Learning to Accept the King
by tooperfect4words
Summary: When Ganondorf returns, he decides to try and return to his fellow gerudos. Although most are pretty accepting, a certain gerudo has to try and overcome her past shaky relationship with her king. Ganondorf-Nabooru romance
1. Default Chapter

Ta da! Its chapter one again! I've edited it a little and I'm pretty sure all of the mistakes are out. Just in case a lawyer is reading this, I do not own Zelda or any of the trademark names. I do own this story though.... Have fun reading!

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Hiding her eyes from the many Hylains that buzzed about the castle marketplace, Nabooru tried to keep from being recognized as a gerudo as she made her way to the Temple of Time. She had been called for another sages meeting, which wouldn't have been so bad if the marketers around her weren't so keen on yelling things like "Gerudo" or "Thief" every time they saw her face and ended up getting her kicked out of the marketplace. This made her have to resort to more desperate measures to make it to the meeting. Nabooru grimaced as she turned to see Saria, the forest sage, so easily slip through the crowds while she had to wear a cloak to keep from being mobbed. Saria seemed to know the cloaked figure was her as she immediately recognized Nabooru and pulled her into the entrance while whispering "come on, were late".  
  
Inside the temple the sages assembled like they normally did, sitting in mysterious magic chairs that would only appear if the correct sage tried to sit around the long table where Rauru conducted his many meetings. King Darunia, the fire sage, liked to position his chair by Saria as with Link's help the two had become close friends. Zelda, if sitting in her correct position would normally be by Rauru as she was the seventh sage though instead she tended to linger between her guardian Impa and Ruto who was a fellow princess. Nabooru wasn't partial to who she was sitting between and she tended to end up by Rauru or Impa.

But no matter where she sat she seemed to find the same problem, anything about Ganondorf was linked to her, the gerudo. The worst meetings always seemed to be the ones that Rauru had only called to have Nabooru end whatever trouble her people seemed to be causing. Still Nabooru attended faithfully and didn't falter in her duties at the Spirit temple as well as here, but it did seem to be becoming an annoyance to her.

Nabooru sat down between Impa and Rauru as the only other free space was by the annoying Ruto. Rauru nodded his head to his six other colleagues and then he sat down and stated his normal speech about the current states of the triforce and such while the rest of the sages nodded their heads along and waited for the real business of this meeting to start. When Rauru was finished, the rest of the sages broke into little conversations of their own and Nabooru sat and patiently waited for Rauru to address what had made him call forth this random meeting.  
  
Rauru once again stood from his chair and cleared his throat to speak, "The reason I have call for this meeting to commence" he said with much gusto, "is that once again another group of assassins has attempted to bring Ganondorf back from his sealed prison". Six small groans were heard and Nabooru was almost ready to bring her head down on to the table, this meeting was soon to be linked to her and she could feel it.  
  
Rauru took a breath before continuing, "Nabooru" he started as Nabooru folded her hands and tried not to show her annoyance, "have you been aware of the meetings the castle has heard of taking place under your fortress?"  
  
Nabooru shook her head, she suspected there might still be as there where a few gerudos that would try something like that while she was at the Spirit temple but she had never seen who. The rest of the sages were looking at her expectantly, Nabooru hated the feeling that they were suspecting her of being a bad leader.

Rauru stared at her also, "Are you positive?" Nabooru nodded, Rauru stared and the rest of the sages sensed something was not right. Rauru sat back down, "Nabooru if you haven't been aware of the fact that there are seventeen gerudos who have been slinking in and out of the cliffs of Hyrule that you did not send them on any business for yourself", Nabooru wasn't sure what to say as Rauru continued, "a group of assassins have opened the door to the Spirit Realm outside of Hyrule, we suspected they had help from Hyrule. Nabooru that group has been helping something that might lead to our demise!"  
  
Nabooru lowered her head as thoughts rushed through her head, Mika, Ganondorf's cousin had started a group of seventeen members who wanted her out of power and tried to secretly rile the rest of the band against her, Nabooru had caught the group in time and disbanded it but the seventeen still remained in the fortress. Nabooru knew Mika had been acting odd recently but Mika was smart enough not to help outsiders when they tried something like Rauru had been saying. It was possible for a magician to be controlling her though...Nabooru had had it happen to her before, which would explain a lot of things Nabooru's second in command had reported to her. Nabooru grimaced, she would simply play dumb until the meeting was over, for once she cared more about her valley's interactions with the outside then the fact that Ganondorf might come back.  
  
For the rest of the meeting the sages debated over what to do about this problem while Nabooru silently thought about it to herself. Nabooru did not want the seventeen banished to the outside like Ruto wanted or a spy from outside Gerudo Valley trying to stop them. Nabooru watched as Rauru actively involved the other sages as she tried to exclude herself from his conversation. Nabooru waited for them to finish the meeting before she pulled on her cloak and was the first to leave. She never spoke much when the meeting was about her race.

After Nabooru had exited the market she pulled off the cloak and tossed it into the moat, she didn't care if anyone saw her now and she was tired of hiding. She put her fingers in her mouth and whistled. A tan horse with a red mane ran towards her and flashed off its colorful saddle in the sunlight. Nabooru patted its neck before mounting and galloping towards Gerudo Valley.  
  
Nabooru arrived at the entrance to find her usual assigned guard at the foot of the bridge. Nabooru smiled and talked to her for a second before dismounting and letting her horse amble away. Nabooru, instead of going back to the Spirit Temple, entered the fortress. She found her Second in command, Isle, talking to a guard in a back room. As Nabooru entered Isle and the guard immediately stopped talking and faced her attentively.  
  
"Isle" Nabooru stated in a businesslike tone, "Check on Mika, I would like to speak to her about something. If she is not in the fort I want a message sent to me immediately and the entrance guards questioned about when she left". Isle nodded her head, when Nabooru thought something was wrong it was best to check on the issue immediately because Nabooru tended to be right about her suspicions.  
  
Nabooru walked to the Haunted Wastelands gate, she wanted to report to the Spirit Temple but something held her back this time, she felt the urge to stay behind. Nabooru walked to a wooden crate and sat on it letting her head hang on her hands. A guard from the gate climbed down from her post as she went to make sure Nabooru was okay. Nabooru smiled at the guard who continued with switching posts with another guard. A few minutes later Isle returned with Mika who had a blank look in her eyes but looked as if she had been crying earlier.

Nabooru stood as Mika slowly trudged towards her. Nabooru looked to Isle, "Was she crying?" Isle nodded. Nabooru looked back to Mika, "have you been involved with...."she started as Mika burst into sobs and covered her hands with her eyes.  
  
Several surrounding gerudos stared at the sight of her crying as Nabooru stepped closer and Mika started to mumble. "I didn't know what I was doing" she said, "I would wake up and I would be on the outside or at the gate". Mika lifted her arm and brushed some of the tears away. "They released him, they used us to find the information on how".  
  
Nabooru's eyes widened, she realized automatically that by him Mika meant Ganondorf and through her sobs she was saying he had already been let out of his prison in the spirit realm.

Mika looked up to met Nabooru's eyes, "they were speaking to him, and they told Ganondorf they wanted his help. They wanted to join with him and regain Hyrule ". Mika stopped crying and started to sniffle, "Ganondorf told her, the leader of the assassins that he didn't want that – something else instead but there was that dark shadow....". Mika trailed off as she let out a few more sobs while Isle tried to pat her back in an akward comforting way.  
  
Nabooru stepped back to sink down to her seat on the crate as she took in the shock of what she had just heard. Both Isle and Nabooru knew that Mika was crying about something else, the rest of the story would be harder to come by though.

Isle left Mika to talk to Nabooru, "she keeps saying it took him, Nabooru what took who?" Nabooru looked up to Isle and spoke softly "the he must have been Ganondorf and I'm guessing whatever she meant by the dark shadow would be what took him".  
  
Mika who had obviously been listening to them whisper shook her head, "the shadow took the assassins but it was Hylains that took Ganondorf" Mika replied, "They say the sages will decide what to do with him". Nabooru looked up and frowned, "when did this happen" Nabooru asked. Mika shrugged a little, "Not sure, a few hours ago, sometime before you left ".  
  
Nabooru stood in shock, "we just had a sages meeting" she exclaimed I was the first to leave, I didn't see any others leaving", she started walking to the gate while Mika and Isle followed.

"They are probably going to banish him back" Nabooru said, "without me," she added regretfully. "Don't send him back" Mika said, "he had refused the shadow's offer because he said he wanted something more than that right now, he told me and the others and he didn't want to help the assassins, and they offered him a lot more then just their help".

This made Nabooru slow down her pace and turn to Mika, "so you say he wants to change," she asked questioningly. Nabooru thought about this while she continued to walk. Ganondorf could just as easily be playing a trick or planning something much worse but Nabooru felt a twinge of responsibility for her king and she wasn't going to let him just be banished after not taking up an offer for the possible control of Hyrule. But this of course was only what she had gained from Mika. Nabooru considered the two sides before mounting her horse and setting off, she knew she would have to go pretty fast to make it before they sealed the portal.  
  
As Nabooru dismounted near the castle gate the gate slowly began to close for the night as Nabooru realized she wouldn't have time to search for her cloak's hiding place in the moat. She rushed to the waters edge and leaped up grabbing the end of the bridge. She pulled herself over the to the other side and used the wood to slide down to the cobblestone floor of the marketplace. Nabooru ran threw the crowds of people who were starting to head to their houses and ignored the cries that came out of a few of the people.

Nabooru rushed to the temple of time and threw open the gates. But when she stepped in the great hall was quiet and empty leaving the only sound her panting in the entrance. Nabooru burst out the doors and ran towards the castle, she entered the pathway to the gate only to find it surrounded by villagers all wanting to watch something. A man was guarding the one lonely vine that lead up to where the villagers could have jumped and gotten through the gate.  
  
Nabooru slipped to the front of the crowd covering her face halfway by her arm and staying to the side so she wouldn't be crushed. She reached the front and found that villagers were already bargaining prices for admittance. Nabooru slipped back to where the tree was to find it already being climbed by some villagers and guards at the top already trying to pull them down.

Nabooru felt at a loss before jogging away from the entrance and back to the temple. There she veered from the entrance to the side where there was a brick wall and much vegetation. Nabooru ran at the wall before grabbing a vine and pulling herself over to one of the castle's large gardens. She ran through avoiding the trimmed hedges and flowerbeds as she sprinted towards a fountain. She slid down behind it to see the small cliff that ran alongside the castle and evened out at the hills. Nabooru ran towards the hills hoping the guards wouldn't see her as she slipped at an angle diagonal to the guards gaze. She reached the pathway and pushed herself flat against the edge of the hill as she noticed two guards below chattering at their posts as if this was an everyday thing.  
  
"I guess old Rauru is planning on making a show of Ganondorf to the peasants and nobles alike" the closer one said to the other. The other nodded as his helmet bounced, "I can't imagine what the sages are doing back there with him though" he said, "the wait is killing both me and the villagers". The closer one laughed before looking to the sky which was slowly getting darker, "wonder why they are doing this so late" he said as he continued to look up.

Nabooru also looked as the sky slowly shifted to night, the portal near the castle had been sealed at night, so of course it would only work at night. That could only mean that the show they were putting on would be sealing Ganondorf in the Spirit Realm with a more permanent mark. Though how they would manage without her eluded Nabooru.  
  
Nabooru crawled farther behind the guards where she let herself down and sprinted to the fields. She heard some shouts and she knew that some of the guards must have spotted her sprinting figure. She ignored the calls as she continued to run until she reached a small viny platform that stood by the guard's gate to the castle and in front of the moat. Nabooru recognized the platform as the one Link had said he climbed and jumped off of when he was younger to talk to Zelda. Nabooru climbed this but not to jump into the moat from. She peered over the edge at a huge ancient looking gate that stood at the edge of the moat and from the noises coming from the outside of the wall she knew that Ganondorf and the sages would be there.  
  
After three attempts at jumping the wall the separated her from what was beyond the locked gate, Nabooru succeeded in vaulting over to where she dropped down into a crouch on the other side. She looked up to see her king in chains surrounded by the other sages who were performing a spell that had them locked deep in concentration. Nabooru now walked with a hurried pace as Ganondorf looked to her and locked his eyes on hers. She stopped as a familiar memory of locking her eyes with those same eyes almost shocked her into forgetting what she was doing before she continued to the circle of sages.  
  
She looked to see all of the sages looking towards the sky with their respective colors glowing about them. Ganondorf looked annoyed but frightened, as he stood locked behind the sage's circle with his fists clenched and face in a grimace. Chains ran from his wrists to the ground and heavier irons clamped on his ankles locked his feet to the ground, he was pulling on these but to no avail. There was an extra large space open between Impa and Rauru that Nabooru recognized as the place she was supposed to be in.  
  
Suddenly, Nabooru found two heavy arms around her and a rough voice whispered in her ear "do not disturb the sages". Nabooru knew some guards must have spotted her. She stopped moving long enough for them to loosen their grip before breaking into a harsh twist from one guard into another where she flailed herself out. Nabooru turned and ran to the circle of sages. The guards gave a shout of surprise and started to chase her down into the circle, they were not supposed to let anyone break the sages' concentration.  
  
Nabooru stopped to keep herself from falling into King Darunia as one of the guards leapt for a tackle and missed instead sending Nabooru flying and crashing into Saria. Saria faltered and the sealing spell she had been chanting had immediately ended. The sages were immediately thrown from their concentration on the powerful sealing spell as Saria fell to the ground while Nabooru rolled to her feet.  
  
The sages now had confused looks on their faces as they rubbed their eyes and tried to figure out what happened. The guards who where supposed to be keeping anyone from disturbing the sages like Nabooru had just done now stood looking shocked at the blinking sages. Using a thief's reactions, Nabooru rushed to the chained Ganondorf where she stood looking up at his face. Even though Ganondorf was well over 6 feet and Nabooru much shorter she still managed to look somewhat intimidating standing in front of him. Ganondorf looked to Nabooru, he knew that if anyone could help him it would be her even though there was a slight twinge of hatred towards her for being one of the sages that had locked him up originally. Nabooru narrowed her eyes as she stared at him "are you really trying to change?" she asked quietly.  
  
Ganondorf was expecting a question session from Nabooru and he nodded his head as politely as he could, there was no way he was messing this up. She still looked at him with disbelief, "prove it," she said as she folded her arms.

Ganondorf didn't give this another second's thought, "I'm tired of the groups wanting my help" he started in a slow serious tone, "I'm tired of having to defend myself, I'm tired of wasting tons of black magic away at things that never last long and I wish for once I didn't have to defend myself every step I take near villages of people biased against me".  
  
Ganondorf felt satisfied with these comments, he indeed truly wanted right now to be left in peace but he knew that Nabooru knew him too well to say something cheesy like that. Nabooru nodded her head to his answer, she debated over what he and Mika had told her and it seemed he really wanted what he said he wanted. She turned as last minute thoughts crept through her head, politically for the gerudos it would be a good decision to plead his case but she knew both the sages and her own feelings right now only wanted to finish locking him up.  
  
Pushing away her feelings of doubt Nabooru walked towards the startled sages who where beginning to come back from the linked spell and starting to notice both the startled guards and Nabooru. The guards had also regained sense of were they where and both ran opposite sides of the circle to where they each grabbed one of Nabooru's arms this time farther away and more wary incase she pulled any escape moves on them.  
  
Rauru regained his posture and looked to Nabooru with his eyes almost wanting to pop out of his head. Darunia and Ruto helped Saria stand as Zelda walked towards Rauru with a cold look in her eyes. "You said you had a perfectly good reason for making us all do this without the help of Nabooru, right now would be the perfect time to tell us what" Zelda growled. "I" Rauru started before puffing his chest a little, "did not want to associate Nabooru with this as she might be deeply offended by the message he gives off about her race". Rauru's answer infuriated Zelda even more and Impa folded her arms in deep annoyance.  
  
Still held by the guards Nabooru did her best to keep still and quiet as she wanted to hear what exactly was happening. Rauru was feeling very uncomfortable; he was against Ganondorf and had not trusted him from the moment he returned. Now that Nabooru was here, it would be harder to make excuses of why not to listen to Ganondorf or why not to complete the sealing. He didn't want to listen to Zelda's lectures and instead turned his attention to the guards.  
  
"Please release the Spirit Sage" Rauru said looking at the two guards with a warning glint in his eye. The two immediately dropped both of Nabooru's arms and let her walk towards the rest of the sages.  
  
"Ganondorf says he wants to change" Nabooru said to the group but mainly aimed at Rauru. Zelda met Nabooru's eyes, "I'm sure we can reach some agreement" Zelda started, "Maybe in a more suitable area". Zelda motioned to the guards, "bring Ganondorf to the conference room around the back way and tell the posts at the gate to send the crowd away". Nabooru smiled a little at the way Zelda gave out orders, Zelda was a person who definitely kept her priorities straight and had a much better political sense then Rauru. Nabooru then followed the rest of the sages as they went to Zelda's conference room.  
  
Zelda's conference room was a long room with a vaulted ceiling and a large wooden table in the center. Ganondorf was standing against a wall where guards could obviously see him from all sides of the room. Nabooru didn't look to see if they had kept him chained, as she was instead concentrating on the long tapestries that fell from the tall ceiling all bearing the triforce. Nabooru took her seat at the table and watched as the rest of the sages followed. A few official looking Hylains also joined them along with the king himself. Nabooru sneaked a glance back at Ganondorf who was looking at her intently. Zelda clapped her hands; the king was here only to watch so Zelda had naturally assumed the responsibilities of calling the meeting together. Nabooru looked at Zelda who even as a young adult had the air of a wise ruler.  
  
Pulled out of her slight daydream Nabooru began to pay attention to the meeting Zelda had just called to order. The conversation at the table was focused entirely on what to do about Ganondorf who stood quietly and didn't say a word. Nabooru listened as she herself tried to help the decision but did not know herself. Impa watched Nabooru sneak back to look at Ganondorf and somewhere in the back of her mind she knew that although Nabooru didn't seem to trust him as much, Ganondorf still put a lot of faith in her.  
  
As the meeting wore on it seemed as though the table was divided equally between those who wanted Ganondorf locked up or him left in Hyrule. Still not all opinions had been expressed at the table as Nabooru hadn't contributed a strong point to either side and Impa hadn't said anything at all. When the question was left just as undecided about an hour later Impa finally unfolded her hands where she had been resting her chin and looked up around the faces at the table before resting her eyes on Nabooru.  
  
"Nabooru" she said as the rest of the table became immediately silent. "Would you be willing to watch Ganondorf very closely for a period of time to make sure he really wants peace" Impa said this as she moved her eyes to Ganondorf who was still acting polite and leaning against the wall. Nabooru nodded her head, "yes" she replied.

The rest of the table all passed the idea around and after a few more minutes of confirmation the meeting was finally called to a close. The officials from the castle and the king stood to leave as Rauru and Zelda stated specifications for Nabooru to follow. Then the sages warily stood though they didn't leave and Nabooru knew it was because they where waiting to see what would happen when they removed Ganondorf's chains and let him leave with her.  
  
Nabooru simply stood and walked over to where Ganondorf was as two shaky guards removed his chains. Ganondorf looked on, he was being freed and if the only catch was he had to be around Nabooru it seemed easy, he did trust her to a certain extent after all. He followed her out of the castle grounds and to the closed gate where the guards let them out across the bridge. This was obviously only because they themselves were glad to be rid of Ganondorf.  
  
Ganondorf stepped out onto the field as he breathed in the night air. The sky was pitch black but he was not afraid of any dangers that tended to lurk the fields at night. Those dangers feared him much too much to ever come out from the ground and that left him free to roam the field at night. Ganondorf turned as he suddenly he heard a whistle behind him from Nabooru.

She took a step towards a galloping horse that was coming towards her before she looked at Ganondorf and sighed. "What" he asked feeling a little twinge of worry as he knew Nabooru could report one wrong turn of his and have him banished back to the Spirit Realm.

Nabooru eased his worries when she turned to him and instead gave a weak smile, "guess I am back to being second in command" she said. Ganondorf smiled back, he hadn't even considered his status back at the fortress.

Nabooru mounted her horse as she looked to Ganondorf who was rudely reminded that he had no idea where his horse was. Nabooru just shrugged as she scooted up in her saddle and offered her hand to him. Ganondorf grabbed her hand and swung on to the back of Nabooru's horse who started to gallop as soon as he had gotten on. It felt pleasantly odd to be back in the open air and even though he was feeling pretty uncomfortable without his horse or any idea what he would do now.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I still don't own anything to do with Zelda. And finally, here is Chapter two.  
  
When Nabooru reached the bridge to the fortress she and Ganondorf dismounted and walked opposite sides of her horse across the bridge. The guard at the entrance nodded to Nabooru but looked to Ganondorf with an expression of pure shock. Nabooru slapped her horse's butt as it galloped away from her before motioning for Ganondorf to follow her. She thought about where she was supposed to bring him exactly to explain to the rest of the gerudos about his return. Isle ran to greet Nabooru before stopping and simply staring in awe as Nabooru led him past her. Ganondorf followed Nabooru obediently to the gerudos stables where she pointed to a stable towards the back with a dark horse in it. Ganondorf walked to the stable and smiled as the horse in it turned and rubbed him affectionately. He opened the horse's stable door as he led the horse out and able to come if he needed to call it. Ganondorf saw Nabooru looking at him again and he knew she still hadn't made up her mind about him.  
  
"Could I see my old...", Ganondorf started but was cut off by Nabooru who looked up at him and said "yes, sure". "Sorry" she apologized, as Ganondorf seemed a little shocked by her sudden outburst. Nabooru was still worried, just right now he wasn't sure about what. He quietly followed her as she brought him to the room where his throne sat while gerudos peered into the room obviously surprised to suddenly see their king back. Ganondorf led Nabooru to a hidden entrance in a hall behind the throne room and walked to a flight of stairs that Nabooru climbed silently to his old chambers.

She waited in the entrance while he eagerly checked to see that surprisingly none of his stuff had been moved or damaged. Ganondorf continued to check on his possessions while Nabooru once again reviewed her orders about making sure he behaved while she leaned in the doorway. When he seemed through with his obsessive checking he walked back to the room Nabooru was waiting in and sat on a couch directly opposite from her.  
  
Ganondorf knew she hated this right now, he couldn't tell if she trusted him or not after he had taken over Hyrule and had left her to fend with twinrova by herself. Nabooru gazed about his room before resting her eyes on where he was sitting. She wondered how far she was supposed to go watching him, as she still needed to report to the Spirit Temple. Nabooru decided the more important matter was currently Ganondorf and she forgot all her previous thoughts on going back.  
  
Ganondorf once again locked eyes with her. "Its late" he said, "where am I allowed to sleep". Then realizing how ridiculous he must have sounded he continued, "I feel ridiculous". It seemed appropriate because Nabooru simply raised her eyebrows and smiled, "I don't care". Nabooru hadn't said much all day and right now even though it was getting late she was craving a conversation. Just somehow it still felt awkward talking to Ganondorf. He seemed to be more afraid of saying something wrong to her and Nabooru just couldn't figure out if he was for real or not. Nabooru let her gaze wonder around the room, there where halls that led to other chambers and rich extravagances everywhere. She hadn't seen the place for a long time and it seemed so odd that she was supposed to be standing in it.  
  
Ganondorf stretched his legs out on the couch he had been sitting on and rested his head on the armrest. Nabooru watched silently as he waved to her from his comfortable position.

"Don't worry," he said with a mocking smile," I promise not to do anything in my sleep". Nabooru returned the smile, "Okay" she said, "Just remember no sleep walking if I'm not there..." The two finished their small goofy conversation as Nabooru folded her arms against the doorway. She waited until she was sure he had gone to sleep before exiting the room. It seemed safe to let him sleep alone and Nabooru felt very uncomfortable in his chambers.  
  
The next morning Nabooru woke up early after a few hours sleep and she crept back to where she had left Ganondorf. She still had responsibilities to take care of but two of the most important governing people in Hyrule had threatened her about leaving him unwatched. She walked back up the stairs to his chamber and entered to see Ganondorf still asleep, as it was only the early hours in the morning. Nabooru thought about leaving him sleeping but then she just shrugged the urge away and walked over to where he lay. Nabooru shook his shoulders gently and looked to see his eyes open and blink at her. He sat up as she stepped back and walked to exit the room. Ganondorf followed her obediently and didn't say a word but he couldn't help wondering if she would ever have a decent conversation with him.  
  
Even before Ganondorf had been locked in the Spirit Realm Nabooru had always been short on words to say to him. As second in command she had influence and power in the community but not over Ganondorf who could have taken it from her in a second. Now Nabooru held a slight authority over Ganondorf but it was hard thinking she had any power over him when he loomed over her being much taller and much stronger then her.  
  
Nabooru walked along a stone tunnel through the fortress. She didn't want to go out on the streets where there awaited many gerudos who would all want to know how Ganondorf had just suddenly appeared. Nabooru walked swiftly along the back stone tunnels as she listened to various reports from guards and tried to sort out little problems that gerudos would run and stop her for. Ganondorf stayed quiet as he listened to the various situations and the constant restating of how he was back. Just there were a few questions about Nabooru that he felt he needed to ask.  
  
As they approached a small library at the end of the hall, Ganondorf stopped Nabooru as he put his hands on her shoulders and looked directly at her. "Nabooru, why aren't you at the Spirit Temple" he asked. "I needed to collect the guard's reports" she answered not meeting his gaze. Ganondorf frowned, "as I remember you used to have them brought to you at the Spirit Temple", he paused to keep himself from sounding worried, "why aren't you at the spirit temple?" Nabooru lifted her eyes to meet his gaze "I can feel something is not right" she said. "It feels like something bad is over there, something bad will happen if I go". Ganondorf took his hands off of her shoulders as he almost sighed out of relief; Nabooru was scared of something at the Spirit Temple. He had been worried the problem had something to do with him.  
  
Nabooru felt a little relieved herself, as she had finally taken the weight of her worries about the temple off her chest. She turned to try and finish her what she could get done there but Ganondorf pulled her back to face him. "You hate me don't you", Nabooru looked down and barely spoke a soft "yes". "I mean no, well I did before" she turned from him, "I don't know if I can trust you," she admitted finally.

Ganondorf nodded to himself "what can I do for you to trust me" he asked. Nabooru shrugged, "when you do something like that I'll tell you," she said as she began to walk towards the small library. Ganondorf just followed her silently; she had talked to him at least.  
  
In the library there sat a gerudo with a map laid out in front of her on a small table. Two other chairs where surrounding the table and Nabooru sat in one while she motioned for Ganondorf to sit in the other. "How nice to see you, Ruby" Ganondorf said addressing the seated gerudo. The gerudo named Ruby gave a nod towards her king before pointing to a feature on the map. Ganondorf immediately recognized the map as one that showed Hyrule and a few of the nearer countries around it, a map that could only be bought from a ranger who patrolled and knew what lie in between countries. Ruby was pointing at a cliff labeled thief's bluff. Ganondorf looked at it then back to the two females at the table around him.

"The assassins hideout had been there" he said as Nabooru and Ruby both looked up at him. "Yes" Ruby said, "we believe the group of assassins have come out of the group of that originally used the same area as their hideout". Ganondorf shook his head, "Some had the blue hair of that old group but most looked to be of different races and genders".

Nabooru stared at the map before turning to Ganondorf, "We have been suspecting something like this to happen for a while" she said as Ganondorf nodded for her to continue, "it has been rumored that some tribes of the outer thieves have banded together". Ruby nodded her head to what Nabooru was saying. "Nabooru and I were discussing the matter last night, but we can't seem to think what they would have wanted with you" Ruby added. Nabooru turned back to the table, "or why they needed Mika and her friends" she said. Ganondorf shrugged, he was waiting for the questions about the offer he was given.

"What did they want with you" Nabooru said narrowing her eyes at him. "Something about help to get the triforce and..." he said not really wanting to continue until the two gerudos surrounding him started to look a little angry. "What else" Nabooru said knowing Ganondorf was hiding something. He gave in, "they wanted a leader, someone to help their army," he said now unsure of what he was saying, "they wanted me to help them beat the tribe". Nabooru was shocked but at the same time relieved, Ganondorf had been asked to attack the gerudo tribe and declined. "I don't know what they where thinking," Ganondorf said seeing the two gerudos sigh a little, "they wanted me to help them destroy the race I am king of".

Nabooru smiled a little wondering if he really wanted to reclaim his old life as king or if he was still just acting for the chance to get the triforce back. Nabooru continued to talk with Ganondorf and Ruby but all the while she was thinking about how Ganondorf had earlier asked if there was a way she could trust him. When Nabooru seemed satisfied with their little meeting she stood and left the room. Ganondorf also got up to exit but Ruby stayed seated as she placed some other documents on the map and started to look over them.  
  
Ganondorf followed Nabooru back through the hall and was almost caught up to her fast pace when she whirled around and faced him. "Ganondorf" she started to say but then she stopped herself and turned away again. "What is it", he asked but she had already started walking away again. She stayed silent through the rest of the afternoon.

As Ganondorf followed her through the fortress, it seemed she kept finding random appointments to keep herself busy. She took all the back routes, and she avoided walking by the gate to the Haunted Wasteland whenever possible. It was a mystery to Ganondorf whether she was just trying to keep him out of the crowds or whether she was trying to convince herself she was too busy to go to the Spirit temple.

That night, Ganondorf was pleased to find a feast for dinner. Obviously the cooks had gotten word of his return as the food tasted better than he had remembered before at the fortress. Many of the richer gerudos were present at the long table in the elegantly decorated dining hall. Ganondorf obviously was enjoying himself as he happily joked with his fellow gerudos. Nabooru remained quiet throughout the dinner and politely answered any question she was asked. No one seemed to notice Nabooru's quiet behavior.  
  
For the rest of the week Nabooru spoke little to even the gerudo officers and still avoided the gate to the Haunted Wasteland. Ganondorf first tried to communicate with her but then finally stopped trying as hard when he saw she didn't want to talk. Nabooru was still too deep in thought to bother talking as she walked around with Ganondorf like Link did with Navi. She still didn't know if she could trust Ganondorf and so many previous emotions about the torture she had endured from the sages and the common folk of Hyrule were building up.  
  
At the end of the week, Ganondorf had started to regain a little more confidence around the fortress but Nabooru's silent ways kept him from trying any bold moves. It was at the end of the week when he finally couldn't take it anymore. Ganondorf walked up the stairs to his chambers while Nabooru stayed silent. He was for once in front of her and as he reached the entrance he turned and stopped her. "Why have you been so quiet" he said as he put one hand on her shoulder to keep her from turning away from him.

Nabooru simply looked away, "I've been thinking too much" she said but Ganondorf continued to hold her by the shoulder. "I need to go to the Spirit Temple" she said as she took his hand and lifted it from her shoulder. "Why don't you just go" he asked as he let his hand fall to his side. Nabooru turned her head to meet his gaze, "Something bad will happen", she said quietly, "I know it". Ganondorf looked at her meeting her eyes, he couldn't help thinking how pretty she was when she was worried. "That isn't all your worried about is it" he said wondering if he could ever get her to talk. Nabooru was again silent. Ganondorf turned and entered his chambers leaving Nabooru alone on the staircase.


	3. The Spirit temple

Wow, another edit! I have just realized that my chapters all have really random stops and starts. Sorry about this but when I originally wrote it, it was just one really really long story and I guess I wasn't paying attention when I cut out sections to paste as chapters... Well, anyways again I don't own Zelda!

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She watched him climb the final steps before starting to turn herself. She knew that she would have to go to the Spirit Temple. It was where she lived, but yet she didn't want to go there alone. Right now, she didn't want to be alone, she couldn't help thinking about all of the troubles she had while Ganondorf was away.  
  
Nabooru took a step down before turning and running back up and threw the entrance to where Ganondorf was. She burst in and Ganondorf slowly turned around. Ganondorf was surprised as she came in and walked towards him. "Ganondorf" she whispered as she walked closer to him, "I'm sorry, there have been other things".

Thoughts where rushing through her head, she had wanted to tell him about all the torture she had received because of him but she also felt like telling someone why she was scared of the temple. "Ganondorf ever since you left" Nabooru said still quietly," the gerudos have been looked down upon". She gulped and paused before lifting her face to meet his. "The sages have connected me with every bad thing you've done, the Hylainian marketers scream at us whenever we show our faces outside the valley, and outsiders keep coming to us for help with dishonorable things because they think we all know black magic", Nabooru said this with a shaky voice. "Your personal quest for the triforce has the majority of Hyrule against us, now that you are back the things people do will certainly get worse", Nabooru paused, "you did something so bad some people might never trust you again - but I want to, I am trying to I need your help in a lot of ways". Ganondorf stood shocked at Nabooru's sudden admittance before wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her close to him. "You can trust me," he said hoping that maybe she would.  
  
Nabooru had let him hug her, she knew part of her hated him enough to push away but part of her had wanted to let him hug her. Putting her hands against his chest, Nabooru let her head rest against him. "We keep being attacked by bands of people who somehow make it across the desert or the bridge" Nabooru said, "I can't stop the attacks and they always come when I am at a Sages Meeting". Ganondorf pulled her onto a couch where he held her at arms length and said, "go on, I want to hear this". Disobeying her gut feeling to keep quiet Nabooru looked back up at his face and finally broke down. A few hours later she lay asleep leaning on him after telling him of everything she could think had been happening while he was gone.  
  
When Nabooru woke up she found herself slumped against Ganondorf who was lying against the couch. Nabooru moved one of his arms so she could stand and assess what exactly she had done the night before. As she turned and let her eyes adjust to the dim morning light that filtered through some holes located around the top of the room. Ganondorf woke up and sat up on the couch before putting his head in his hands and rubbing himself awake. He stood and looked at Nabooru who gazed at him for a second then left the room. Ganondorf followed her silently and it became very obvious that she was headed towards the gate to the Haunted Wasteland. When they reached the gate Ganondorf stopped her, "are you taking me with you" he asked. She nodded, "Even if I didn't want to I would have to" she said before turning and smiling at the nightly posts watching the gate. Nabooru walked through it and headed to the river of sand where she had buried a longshot in the sand. She uncovered the longshot then waited for Ganondorf to bring out his own version and they both shot out over to the other side. The trip after that wasn't very hard, Nabooru waved to the guide who led those that didn't know the way before stepping onto the memorized path to the Spirit Temple.  
  
Nabooru crossed through the familiar sands stepping like she always had while Ganondorf walked along side her. Nabooru was a little surprised that Ganondorf knew the path so well but then he was the king. As Nabooru got nearer to the Desert Colossus she couldn't help suppressing that awful feeling that made her want to turn back. She climbed under the wooden posts and walked up the steps to the Spirit Temple. At the entrance she turned to see Ganondorf still staring up at her from the bottom of the stairs. "Aren't you coming," she asked. Ganondorf folded his arms, "can I be sure you won't turn your entire temple against me when I go inside?" Ganondorf replied. Nabooru smirked before turning to go in the temple as Ganondorf sighed and climbed the steps to join her side.  
  
When Nabooru stepped inside the first thing she noticed was that only one pot flew at her, the other was nowhere to be seen. Up the steps, the Armos were gone. There was no other noise and the only one small flame burned off to the side making it eerily quiet. Nabooru walked up the steps and looked about the Armos platform. There was no light whatsoever and Nabooru looked about trying hard to see if anyone else was there. The only other once living things in that room with them were the charred remains of the two Armos piled against a wall. Ganondorf walked over near Nabooru and looked about the rest of the room. He turned his head trying to catch her eye but finding it impossible in the little light he instead tapped her shoulder. Nabooru shuddered a little but she quickly recovered and pushed Ganondorf in the direction of the huge silver block. "Move that" she said following behind him a little.  
  
Walking down the silent halls Nabooru would look through the dark to see certain items missing and creatures dead while torches also lay unlit. For his heavy armor, Ganondorf walked with a very experienced stealth and other then the slight twitches where Nabooru who was leading would lightly stumble over a misplaced object, no other sounds were made from them. Nabooru walked towards the end of a particularly long hall and found a room she never used with the door slightly ajar. She gulped as she pushed it open just slightly and slipped in.  
  
Inside the room was pitch black and Nabooru started to wonder how whatever had been here had managed to see. As she took a few steps into the room, she heard a light scuffle in the opposite corner. She slowly stepped backwards to exit when she suddenly crashed into something behind her. On instinct she tried to immediately break away but the figure behind her quickly grabbed onto her waist and pulled her back.

"Nabooru calm down" the figure said as Nabooru stopped realizing she had just slammed into Ganondorf. "We aren't alone in here" Nabooru said looking about her with a shiver. Ganondorf pulled Nabooru a little closer towards him as a slight scuffle slipped behind him. "Stay here" he whispered in her ear before he walked around her and towards where he expected the center to be. There was a soft noise in front of him and a few other scuffles against the walls. He opened his hand and chanted a few words before lifting it and watching as at first a dark ball of glowing energy appeared and slowly snaked out across the room before it exploded and shone a white light from the ceiling.

Ganondorf gasped in surprise at what else was in the room, from floor to ceiling long snake bodies pushed each other against the wall sliding and scuffling trying to move. Skinny snakes slipped about on the floor both avoiding and crawling over his boots. He turned still in shock to see the door they had taken blocked by a large snake's tail and the huge snake's head positioned right above Nabooru. Its mouth was open and its fangs gleaming. Nabooru was looking about the room and she had stopped shaking and started staring, there had once been a band of thieves outside of Hyrule who used a snake as their symbol wherever they stuck, this band was the same one that had originally used thief's bluff as their hideout.

Nabooru was rudely awakened from her small daydream when she heard Ganondorf yelling her name. She turned to see the fangs hanging over her and the large snake body coiled in a striking position. Nabooru looked up at it and it suddenly dawned on her that the snake still hadn't uncoiled or struck yet, she turned to Ganondorf. "I would duck about now if I were you" she said as a large snake body propelled itself over her and struck at Ganondorf. Nabooru looked around her and realized that with the snakes so tightly knit there was no way to go back out the way she had come.

Ganondorf was holding the snakes jaws together and the snake back away from him with amazing strength as Nabooru didn't waste another minute in trying to break the snake's wall apart at another area where they where coiled looser and she knew to be an exit. Every time a snake was pulled away, a stronger and more dangerous snake replaced it. Nabooru looked at them with a burning hatred and she tried harder to pull them apart. Ganondorf blasted the snake away from him and it lay in a corner passed out. He saw Nabooru having trouble and disobeying all gut feelings he aimed a dark spark right where Nabooru was trying to break the door free. The blast hit the spot and Nabooru recoiled as the entire wall of snakes sizzled and died.

Nabooru turned to him, "if you do that in front of any other person in this country you realize they will send you back to the spirit realm so fast it'll make your head spin" she said. He nodded before walking over and opening the charred door. Nabooru grimaced as Ganondorf walked through like nothing happened. She just hoped Rauru hadn't been monitoring the Spirit temple while the expedition had happened.  
  
In the next hallway behind the door Nabooru found the torches still lit and the random traps and such still dormant and ready to spring. Ganondorf again took his plsce behind her and walked silently while avoiding the various things his Spirit Sage kept checking. When Nabooru reached a small door at the end of the hall with a lock on it she turned to Ganondorf and smiled. "Nothing here has been broken into". "They probably didn't know it was here" Ganondorf replied as he turned to see Nabooru headed back the way they came. As they came nearer to the snakes room Ganondorf boldly pushed in front of Nabooru and opened the doors first. This drew a frown from Nabooru; Ganondorf got bolder and pushier around her every day.  
  
In the room the odor and sight of charred snakes were all about the room, and no live snake was to be seen. Ganondorf pushed through the mess as Nabooru tread lightly behind him to where they reached the far end and Ganondorf pushed his way out.  
  
Back in the dark hallway Nabooru felt the usual tingling of anxiety creep onto her and she pushed back in front of Ganondorf to lead the way through the gloom. Not being able to stand it any longer, Ganondorf once again created a dark orb that flashed into white light and he shone it about the hall finally being able to see about him. Nabooru shrugged and continued on though she was relieved that he finally had offered to do that. They continued down the hall with Nabooru leading and the hallway about them began to look more gruesome. The remains of some creatures were either barely anything, like just a fragment of a bone, or bloody carcasses that splattered all over the wall. Nabooru kept walking through though another feeling of not being alone was coming up every time se had to turn a corner. As she approached one she would almost feel to the point of pushing Ganondorf to check around first but then would gulp and continue on herself. After a quite a while of this wandering, Ganondorf began to notice something that made Nabooru feel a little creepy herself. Enemies neither of them had set as traps roamed the hallways and would periodically jump out and scratch one of them. These creatures were not loyal to the desert or the spirit temple and it became more apparent to Nabooru that the thieves who caused all this were from the borderlands.  
  
When Nabooru felt satisfied with her wanderings, she took an unexpected turn and headed back towards the Spirit Temple's living chambers. As Nabooru turned into a small hallway she saw a dark figure standing directly in front of her scamper away and throw something at her. Nabooru jumped backwards away from the object as it hit the ground and exploding sending her smashing into Ganondorf. Ganondorf grabbed her elbows to keep her from falling and pushed her back into the hallway before he entered himself and looked around. He frowned at the remains of the object on the ground, and without saying anything else he stepped in front of Nabooru and started to check the surrounding rooms. The first rooms were completely ransacked. Nabooru walked in first to the next room and was glad to find that her chapel completely untouched. Ganondorf followed her into the next room were she walked towards the back to exam a singed tapestry. "Ganondorf" she called, "what could have caused this?" As Ganondorf turned his head from where he was standing off to the side he looked just it time to see a small arrow suddenly shoot from the doorway and plunge itself towards Nabooru. Nabooru had turned around to talk to Ganondorf and as she moved her head back towards the entrance the arrow lodged itself in her stomach and she found herself clutching her stomach on the ground in pain.  
  
Ganondorf rushed towards her where he kneeled by her side as the archer entered the room. Ganondorf watched as the archer took off her hood to reveal a blue head with two hazel eyes, the second in command to the assassin who had commanded his revivers. He looked towards her as it dawned on him that they still wanted his help and Nabooru must have seemed in the way to them. Ganondorf stood as four more hooded figures took the first's side. "It seems you no longer need to follow your guard here", the blue headed one said, "we have come to repeat our offer, we could let you have freedom again, and the control of a kingdom".  
  
The figures standing near the blue headed ones all seemed to slightly nod at her words. Ganondorf had heard their full offer, and it was definitely more tasteful then this. He turned his head back to the fallen Nabooru whose blood was slowly creeping near his boots. "We came here to get rid of her" the blue headed one smiled, "to get her out of your way, but we had expected her to come a long time ago". "And alone" one of the hooded figures piped up.

Ganondorf raised his eyes from Nabooru to the figure standing there with the ridiculous blue hair, "does your leader care about you, as second in command to her have you ever noticed a large amount of her trust towards you or a little bias over the other guards" he asked clenching his fists. A soft glowing light slowly surrounded Nabooru; it was slight and did not disturb any of the other figures in the room. The blue haired girl nodded, "yes" she said, "she does seem to trust me a quite a bit, but why would that be relevant?"

Ganondorf's other fist clenched, "tell me, what would your leader do if you were ever hurt?" "Oh I wouldn't even want to consider that" the blue haired girl chuckled, "she would probably have a heart attack I am probably the best she's got". Ganondorf took a step away from the body of Nabooru and towards the girl, "now what if I was your leader and you were Nabooru, what would I probably do to the group that had just shot you?" The blue haired girl suddenly stopped smiling and looked back to Nabooru, "so you're saying she would be your second in command?" she said as she took a step back.

He nodded slowly, "I don't care if she is a sage, but it seems like you just shot my best person I've got" he said. The Blue haired girl stuttered as she realized all advantages she had held in her deal with Ganondorf were slipping away, "But, but she betrayed you" she said trying to redeem herself. "She wouldn't" Ganondorf said taking slow steps just barely being able to control his anger. "No, no she was against you, she had a group of rebels..," the blue haired girl trailed off as she could see Ganondorf wasn't going to believe her and he was getting closer.

The glowing light around Nabooru got brighter. Ganondorf picked up a little speed as he walked closer to the girl, he now knew he was no longer in control of his calm disguise and the girl he was headed towards clearly didn't like it. "Don't come any nearer" she said as she snapped her fingers and the four other figures broke into a protective formation and two rushed at Ganondorf.

Ganondorf blocked the first one throwing out his arm and sending the cloaked figure crashing at the wall. The second was more prepared and blocked his punch pulling out a spear that it tried to point at Ganondorf. Ganondorf met with resistance and soon had a grip on the spear trying to pull it away from the guard. Although Ganondorf could have just used dark magic and defeated all of them at once, some respect of the fallen sage behind him kept him just trying to control his growing anger on his own and without too much strength or any magic.

The light above Nabooru grew brighter and assumed the shape of the spear being tugged from the guard. Not one other person in the room had seen this happen, and a sudden small explosion was heard as Ganondorf turned and let go in surprise and the guard grabbed the spear and fell. The light spear headed on a direct course with the blue haired girl and it seemed as if all was over for her when it was blocked by the body of one of the two guards who had been standing in front of her. The spear went straight threw it and soon flashed turning the guard into a ball of light, then a pile of dust. The remaining guard in front of the blue haired girl shook with the realization that if the spear hadn't been on as direct a course with her missions blue haired leader, it might have hit her instead.  
  
A boom was heard echoing throughout the temple. Ganondorf looked about him before leaving the group to walk back to the fallen Nabooru. Another boom was heard and bricks started to move from the walls. Ganondorf scooted closer to Nabooru and hoped that whatever had been unleashed in the temple by its sages attack wouldn't come after him too. The blue haired girl looked to her remaining upright guard and two fallen before motioning for the one still clutching the spear to grab the one against the wall and running out hoping to leave the temple before it killed her. Bricks from the ceiling fell and the guards pounding footsteps were heard. Booms continued to come and screams came from the hallway. The booms got louder and louder and one really long scream coming from what sounded like a guy were heard. Ganondorf closed his eyes, as he knew the blue haired girl had probably left one of her guards to fend against the creature that she had unleashed.  
  
Examining his fallen second in command, Ganondorf was almost ready to whimper as he realized this lost him his most trusted companion and guard. He flinched as he also realized his chances of staying out of the Spirit Realm were lost, unless he took the assassins offer. He opened his eyes to hear the sound of the booms subsiding and a soft padding noise instead. Ganondorf ignored these and reached down to grab Nabooru's blood soaked hand. He was surprised to feel a soft pulse.

All of his previous worries disappeared as he placed his other hand on her shoulder. "Nabooru.." He said softly. Her head made a small movement upward and she looked up in pain at Ganondorf's face. "Did you mean everything you said?" she asked softly with a small grunt. He nodded before kneeling close to her and softly pulling her arms of her stomach to reveal the rest of the arrow going straight through.

"Don't worry about it" she said as he stared quizzically at her, "this is my temple, it tends to automatically help in these situations". The soft padding noise ended. Ganondorf turned to see a small lizard like thing laying on the ground by him and looking straight at Nabooru. It suddenly leapt and grabbed onto the arrow with its mouth before quickly yanking it out and galloping off. As Nabooru fell doubled over in pain a glowing light surrounded her, and when it was gone, the pool of blood had disappeared and she was left unhurt. Ganondorf stared to where the lizard had disappeared.

"Don't worry about it" she said again in her carefree tone, "Saria's is a mushroom and Darunia's is a small Dodongo, Ruto's of course is a fish and Impa's, you don't even want to know, they are like little helpers that always seem to show up in an emergency that has to do with us while we are in the temple". Ganondorf almost chuckled, "was this all you were afraid of" he asked. Nabooru nodded, "the lizard wouldn't have come if you weren't here" Nabooru said as she smiled at him, but Ganondorf knew why that was, he had to be labeled as the number one sages worst enemy.  
  
Nabooru slowly stood up and brushed some dust off her. Ganondorf also stood and slowly started towards the exit of the room. He turned and waited for Nabooru to follow. "So are we on a talking basis now?" he asked as they entered the hallway. Nabooru paused for a second before nodding to Ganondorf, "Yes, for now". Ganondorf looked down to both ends of the hall, "Can we go back to the fortress or were you planning on staying here?" "If you don't mind we will be staying here for a little while, I don't want them coming back" Nabooru said as she turned and headed towards the other living quarters. Ganondorf turned and followed her.  
  
The morning passed by quickly and quietly, all of the duties and clean up she hadn't been there to do took her the majority of the day and when the sun had started to set she still had plenty of tasks for the following day. When the sun started to set Ganondorf had asked permission to go sit on the Spirit Temple's steps and watch it. Nabooru allowed him to as it gave her time to go check on the back hidden chambers. When she had finished checking on the nearer ones she walked out to the entrance and from the light filtering in she knew that the sun had almost disappeared, meaning nightfall would follow shortly.

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Tell me how I'm doing! I would really appreciate it... I'm trying to find and fix all the grammatical stuff but if you still find it anyway, just review and yell it at me.


	4. Still there

Nabooru stepped outside and was surprised when she looked out and Ganondorf was nowhere to be seen. She looked about her with a sudden adrenaline rush and was immediately relieved when she saw him lying down in the sand off to the side staring at the sky. She walked towards him and sat down by him not really in any hurry to go back inside. "You know I haven't had a chance to watch the sunset in a long time" he said as he stared at the fading traces of light. Nabooru considered asking him why but stopped knowing he was obviously talking about being in the spirit realm. Not knowing what to say exactly, Nabooru stayed quiet and folded her hands in her lap as Ganondorf continued to watch the stars slowly appearing.  
  
"Did you really trust me that much" Nabooru said trying to think of a way to phrase her thoughts, "before.." Ganondorf cut her off, "if you were ever thinking that I didn't trust you before my little triforce quest when you were simply my second in command, then I don't know how we had managed to work together so well for so many years" he said eyeing her. "No I meant", Nabooru started, "I meant", and suddenly the thing she was thinking about just popped out, "then what about twinrova, you said you trusted and cared for me but it certainly didn't seem like it then".  
  
Ganondorf considered this before replying, "that was a mistake, you were always at the Spirit temple and I just told them to watch you but I had never thought you were sage material, I guess I was a little blinded by the fact that you were my second in command. The two witches saw you and knew you were the spirit sage, they were under my orders, but they did as they pleased and I guess they took matters into their own hands". Nabooru sighed, Ganondorf telling her all this seemed to drain her somehow. "I felt such a loyalty to you before you went on that quest" Nabooru started but stopped when she remembered that Ganondorf hadn't heard of her rebelling against him. "I would have trusted you with my life" Ganondorf replied. Nabooru turned and laid her head on Ganondorf's armored stomach, she was to the point of feeling bad now for not trusting him and when he had so much faith and trust in her.  
  
Ganondorf gazed down at her and tilted his head, "do you trust me now" he asked hopefully. Nabooru nodded, her conscience was killing her. Ganondorf stroked her hair before he sighed and was quiet. Nabooru now didn't say anything because from her experiences with him when he did that it meant he was deep in thought and he tended to get angry very quickly when someone disturbed him. When the night air finally kicked in and the night felt cold, Nabooru stood up and walked towards the Spirit Temple while Ganondorf got up to follow.  
  
Nabooru spent the rest of the week at the Spirit Temple. She had many duties to attend to and it surprised her how new messes kept popping up, especially when there were only two gerudos in there to cause the mess. By the end of the week, Nabooru had gotten most of the duties done. She had given Ganondorf a little freer roam but she still kept a close watch. It was towards the end of the week when she finally started talking freely with Ganondorf. Every night, when the sun started to set Ganondorf would go outside to watch it. Nabooru would go outside when she finished with the days chores and sit there in the sand talking to her king until the night set in. Finally Ganondorf had gotten closer to his goal, he wanted her full trust again. Right now it was the only way to be allowed to roam on his own, and it had the plus side of being able to work with his second in command again.  
  
Around the early evening as Nabooru was passing the entrance she was shocked to see the doors suddenly burst open. Nabooru watched loosening her guard as Ariel, a familiar helper around the temple walked in and cautiously peered around before seeing and Nabooru and running up eagerly to see her. Nabooru smiled as Ariel reached her and gave her a small hug but then suddenly looking side to side as if she expected something to jump out at her. "Nabooru" she said in a soft voice, "is it true, is Ganondorf really, back?" "Yes" Ganondorf said as he entered from the side making Ariel jump a little. "Don't worry", Nabooru said seeing Ariel's small fright, "he is good now, well I'm pretty sure he will be if he doesn't want to go back to the Spirit Realm" she finished. Ganondorf sighed a little, "I kind of hoped though getting my older lifestyle back would be easier." he said. Nabooru smiled, "When Rauru feels he can trust you I'm sure he will let you free to roam. Ariel smiled at this and looked about the entrance to the temple, "need any help" she questioned eyeing Nabooru. Nabooru nodded and Ariel ran off towards the living quarters. Turning to Ganondorf Nabooru once again grinned, "Soon, I'll make sure you can go back to having the authority over me, but for now just behave yourself". Ganondorf nodded and watched as she walked off to do some other unknown chore.  
  
Not feeling up to going outside, Ganondorf retired to a back chamber of the temple and stayed there for the remainder of the evening. After finishing whatever she had been doing Nabooru went ahead and retired to her bedchambers. It wasn't until Nabooru had almost drifted fully off to sleep when she remembered her obligation to keep a close eye on Ganondorf. She sat up from the rough mat she had been laying on and went to the entrance of the room. She had no idea where Ganondorf was and she didn't want to sleep until she knew he was safely asleep not harming anyone. She slipped softly into the hallway and padded past the room Ariel had claimed for the night into another hallway. As she turned a corner she had to stop very suddenly to keep from slamming into the large figure of Ganondorf. "Where have you been" she whispered softly as she grabbed one of his hands and started to pull him back to the living quarters. Ganondorf followed her letting her pull him along. Nabooru led him back through to the entrance to the room she was sleeping in that night. "Now go to bed" she said in a playful tone while softly poking him in the chest and pointing at another room. Ganondorf looked to Nabooru then nodded leaving to the other room. Nabooru watched him leave her before she turned and went back into the room to sleep.  
  
About two weeks after Ariel's return, Nabooru had finished just about every task she could so around the temple for the time. With nothing left to do she sat back down on the entrance's steps and watched the door hoping some messenger might bring her something. The odd thing was that other then Ariel, no other messenger of any type had come through with any reports. She had not been called to any sages meetings, but that was due to her having Ganondorf around and she knew they were waiting to see if he would try anything. As Nabooru continued to stare and wait Ariel busied herself writing down something in an old book while Ganondorf walked into the room and watched the two of them. "Bored" he asked, and Nabooru nodded. Ganondorf walked to where she was sitting and he stood next to her. "Hey Naby", he started before stopping and correcting himself, "Nabooru, why haven't any reports of the fortress come through?" Nabooru shrugged, "I don't know, I was wondering the same thing myself". She turned to where Ariel was leaning against a wall, "Ariel, what was happening before you came?" Ariel looked up from her book, "Wouldn't know, I was staying at the post by the river of sand before I heard you had come back", she said. Nabooru frowned, "So we haven't heard from them in about a month and none of us have any idea what is happening over there", she said with a worried tone in her voice. Ariel closed her book, "Would you like me to take a trip there and back to check on them," she asked. Nabooru nodded, "That would be nice". Ganondorf folded his arms, "when shall we expect you back?" "I know the way, don't think I would take too long" Ariel replied smiling. "Good", Nabooru said though she was wondering if it would have been better to go herself. Ariel walked off and returned without her book, "I will be finishing a few things before I go" she said as she strolled past Nabooru into a hallway.  
  
Nabooru sighed as she stood up and turned to Ganondorf. "Nothing to do" she said as he looked down at her. He lifted a hand and played with her ponytail, "I'm surprised", he said with a mischievous smile, "you aren't going yourself?" "Well" Nabooru started, "I don't want to leave just yet, I would have to go back to the constant watching you thing and it is a lot easier for Rauru to contact me here" she said. Ganondorf stopped playing with her hair, "so you are tired of me," he said still smirking. Nabooru turned to face him directly, "why would you think that?" she asked as she felt him wrap his arms around her. Ganondorf pulled her close to him still looking down at her face, "When that sage finally comes to his senses and I can walk where I please, I am going to have to ask you to again be my second in command" he said softly. She looked up at his face and smiled before resting her head against his chest, that would be an offer she probably wouldn't turn down.  
  
After Ariel had left later that evening Nabooru was left to wandering about with nothing to do. As she was walking down one of the last hallways one could explore without hitting the protected back areas of the temple she found a lighted room and after stepping in it and looking about she saw Ganondorf bent over looking at something off to the side. She looked towards him trying to make out what he was doing when he turned and looked back at her. "Hello", he said before turning around fully, "come over here". Nabooru walked to where he was standing as he turned around and pointed to a set of long beautifully engraved swords with matching curved white handles. Next to them was a similar pair in black. Nabooru ran her finger along one of the white sword's blade before looking over at the stone table they were arranged on. "Where did you find these?" she asked turning to look at Ganondorf. "There" he replied pointing to a cabinet set on a wall opposite of them, "the white ones were already on the table". "Wonder how I could have overlooked this room before" Nabooru said softly to herself. She looked past Ganondorf to her left, there was a room connected to the one they were standing in. "Do you know exactly what this area is" she asked curiosity tugging at her. He nodded, "This room is a storage place for weapons, and that appears to be a fighting arena". Slipping past him Nabooru walked into the other room and looked about her. The floor in the middle of the room was all sand and the ceiling was vaulted. Four torches were lit in each of the corners and she could make out the slightest shape of a locked chest in the very back of the room.  
  
"Hey Nabooru", Ganondorf called from behind her. She turned just in time to catch the two white blades that had been thrown towards her. "Care to have a go" he asked picking up the remaining black handled blades. Nabooru smiled as she stepped out into the center of the arena and held her two blades in a fighting stance. Ganondorf walked opposite to her and lifted the blades to a stance of his own. The four torches surrounding the room flashed and Ganondorf moved in to clash one of the swords against Nabooru's awaiting defense. It was a playful fight and the first clashes didn't go anywhere. Ganondorf swung one of his swords for a harder hit and almost cut Nabooru's back as she tried to block it and ended up on the ground with his sword tip pointed at her. He reached down and helped her up as she held up her swords again and round two was started. It started out like the first one had with nothing hard until Nabooru pulled a spinning slash and almost clipped Ganondorf as he jumped out of the way in surprise. The two started again and this time the Ganondorf threw hard hits right off of the bat while Nabooru lightly blocked them and scooted out of the way. After a few more rounds of hitting and blocking Ganondorf backed up and let his sword tips down. "Come on, I've seen you do better then that" he said as she held her swords lighter and waited for another attack. Nabooru waited for a second before raising her two swords once more and coming in for a slash that knocked Ganondorf obviously off guard as he barely blocked in time. She spun around and tried again as he met her even while she was behind him. After continuing with her light taps mainly meant to knock him off guard Ganondorf once again started attacking himself. The two clashed swords for a long time and finally in the late evening did Nabooru drop her swords and then, tired and sweaty did she call it a night. She picked up the blades and set them on the table as Ganondorf followed her back to the living quarters were she busied herself trying to make a meal out of the temple's food stores. Settling on some rice, bread, and a soup she had thrown together she sat down at the room's lone table and began to pick at her food. Ganondorf joined her and then he followed her back to the bedchambers.  
  
As Nabooru entered one of the rooms Ganondorf watched her from the entrance. She turned to face him, "yes" she questioned. He walked closer to her watching her follow his movements. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close not taking his eyes off of her. She didn't move and he held her for a few seconds. Finally, he bent down and kissed her, when he finally pulled away she kept her eyes closed and lowered her head. "Goodnight" he said as he pecked her on her forehead and let go of her. Nabooru opened her eyes to watch him leave her before she went back to roll out a mat and sleep. 


	5. Back at the fortress

The following morning she woke up surprisingly early and after pulling on some clothing she got up and walked into the hall. She walked down the hall peeking in the rooms until she found the one Ganondorf was in. She slipped in to see him facing away from her and he quickly turned at her entrance. "Good Morning Madame, have a good sleep?" he asked as he slipped on a belt and walked towards her. Nabooru smiled, "are you going to be exploring again today?" she asked. He nodded, "you'd be surprised, its like someone was hiding an army in here". Nabooru almost stuttered, "oh, maybe". She turned and left the room. Ganondorf watched her saunter away before he left himself very curious about his findings.  
  
The rest of the day Nabooru quickly finished her daily duties before waiting for Ariel to see if she would return. After waiting for a while she was surprised to find Ganondorf come up to her and pull her back into another room. In this room he had found another secretive chest containing swords and he was very keen on pointing out to Nabooru his discovery. The day ended similarly to the others and the following day seemed like a repeat. Ganondorf had sorted through the weapons in both places and found another hidden one. The third day from when Ariel had gone missing left Nabooru a little anxious still wanting to hear from her people and although Ganondorf went on acting indifferent she knew he probably wanted to check on them more then she was. About five days from when Ariel had left Nabooru now felt worried as all of the other times previously when Ariel left she would normally return within a day or two.  
  
As Nabooru leaned against a wall feeling quite concerned about Ariel's disappearance, she wasn't shocked to see Ganondorf walking into the room she was in while grabbing her arm and leading her off into another room, obviously he had made another discovery. The difference this time between the other rooms she had seen was that the doorway she was led through showed signs of once having a door and she wasn't surprised at seeing a broken down door a few feet from where she stood. She was led past the broken door to a single platform in the middle of the room where a sword lay. Ganondorf stopped few feet from the platform and Nabooru walked to the center to look at it. It had a white handle with a small design that resembled the spirit medallion. She picked it up softly and turned it over and found the back of the blade to have engraved in gerudo "the spirit". She held the one sword up and was pleasantly surprised to find it lighter then in looked. She turned to Ganondorf who was still a few feet away. "Is something wrong?" she asked. He shook his head, "I am sure it was more meant for the Spirit sage to handle" he said watching her spin it in her hand. She smiled before walking towards Ganondorf and letting the blade dangle from her hand. "Shall we go now" she asked looking at him. He turned and left the room with her following. Nabooru hid the blade before walking back to the entrance and waiting for Ariel. After finding the many weapons around the Spirit Temple Ganondorf was a little suspicious. Ariel's disappearance was miniscule to the worry that someone might have been planning a revolt against him in the Spirit Temple. It never even crossed his mind that it might have been Nabooru who hid the weapons for that purpose.  
  
One week after Ariel had left Nabooru woke up very worried. She met Ganondorf in the entrance hall and although he was trying to talk to her about something her eyes kept averting his gaze to look back towards the doorway. Ganondorf turned his eyes to the doorway as well seeing Nabooru look at it. "Would you like to go to the fortress yourself," he asked as she finally turned her eyes back to him. "Yes" she said, "get ready to cross the desert very soon".  
\ The shifting sands moved each time she took a step closer to her destination. Nabooru tried not to hurry too much or stray off the path and she had the other problem of always having to turn and make sure that Ganondorf was still behind her for she still had her obligations of watching him to attend too. After she had crossed the river of the sand and was nearing the fortress she saw something was not right. A single figure lay slumped against the outer wall and there was no post at either of the two tower's overlooking the desert. Nabooru rushed to the figure and was surprised to see as she got nearer that it was Ariel. She walked close to her and kneeled down by her, "Ariel?" she asked softly. Two eyes fluttered open to look at Nabooru, "soldiers have taken the fortress over" she said, "they managed to cage up all of the fighters and scholars alike".  
  
Nabooru stood and waited for both Ganondorf to reach her and Ariel to stand against the wall. "So" she started turning to her king, "now will be a time to prove if you are trustworthy, we are going on a rescue mission and you should plan on scoring some points for yourself in Rauru's eyes". He nodded as she turned back to Ariel, "where do they have scouts positioned" Nabooru asked a glint flaring in her eye. "I wouldn't know, they change it a lot. They seem to know what we are capable of" Ariel replied. Nabooru frowned turning back to the fortress's entrance, "if the think they no, then I'm here to prove they have no idea" she said.  
  
She slipped through the large gate to see no guards near the gate but a large group marching back along a road that led to the Hyrule entrance. When the guards backs were turned she slipped across the road to crouch behind a crate while Ganondorf strolled across and crouched down beside her. When the guards again had their marching backs turned she crept into a doorway and stepped into the fort.  
  
Right away she saw a guard with his back facing her turn to see her come in and right before he could call out anything she covered his mouth and knocked him out with her elbow. She quickly reached down to pull off the guard's sword when she felt Ganondorf suddenly knock her to the side behind another crate as a guard came walking down the hallway. She kept quiet as the guard checked out his companion and turned to call for more guards when Ganondorf lifted the crate they had crouched behind and threw it at the man's head. Nabooru stood and took the remaining sword from the other guard before tossing it to Ganondorf and continuing down the hallway. As they came to the next hallway Nabooru had to throw herself back into Ganondorf to avoid being seen by the next patrolling guard who marched across the pathway whistling. When he had turned his back to them she peered out before darting across and following the next hallway along. As she was walking along this she passed another hallways in time to see a guard walk out and look directly at her. She took the handle of her sword and knocked him out as another guard walked down the hallway she was standing in and looked up at her surprised. Not having any way to leap in time she worried that he would call reinforcements for sure when Ganondorf who had been standing behind the guard punched him knocking him to the ground out cold as well.  
  
"How many of these guys are there," she whispered breathing a little hard. These guards seemed ridiculous, they were not placed in strategic positions and there were two or three to every hall that one could do just fine. Ganondorf was looking elsewhere, he was very curious as to where the gerudo guards were and how these soldiers had taken over in such a short time. Waking up from his daydream, Ganondorf looked to see Nabooru now further down the hall and peering around a corner. He quickly caught up with her and immediately pulled her by her arm back as a hidden guard rounded a corner with its back turned not noticing them standing about 20 feet down from him. Nabooru shrugged off Ganondorf's grip on her arm as she started boldly around a corner and walked down it. As she was walking she noticed some odd noises coming from a room she knew contained a prison cell and on some instinct she knew it probably contained a gerudo instead of one of the normal intruders they tended to find.  
  
Walking closer to the room she peered into it to see two guards and a struggling gerudo whose outfit showed her as one of the higher ranked members of the gerudo counsel. Relying on stealth, Nabooru tried hard to make a subtle eye contact with the caged gerudo as she stood at a diagonal path to the door. When the caged gerudo finally looked up towards Nabooru's direction Nabooru finally had a good glimpse of her face and was able to recognize her as Renova, a smart thief who would be easy to break out.  
  
Renova looked towards the guard who was staring at the outside entrance as if expecting someone to walk in. She bent down and reached out of her cage as if grabbing something before pulling her fist back in and putting it behind her back. The guard saw this and came towards the cage door, "what did you take" he demanded bellowing out his words like a military commander. Renova shrugged and stepped back in the cell while the guard thrust his arm through trying to grab her. While he fiddled about with his arm stuck in the jail cell Nabooru crept up behind him and before he could see what had happened she knocked him out with a blow to the head. Moving quickly she searched the guard for a key and after finding none moved to the lock that she easily picked from the outside and let out Renova. Not asking a question Renova grabbed the guard's feet and Nabooru his arms before the both heaved him back into the cell and Nabooru refitted the lock. They stepped into the hall and were met by the grinning face of a guard. "Ohh I've got you now." he started to say before there was a loud thunk and the guard collapsed in front of them. Ganondorf stepped around the collapsed guard grinning himself and he held out an arm ushering the two-gerudo women down the hall.  
  
Nabooru led with Ganondorf following behind them and Renova floating between the middle and Nabooru's side. She reached the end of another corridor and peered out before throwing herself back in as another guard swaggered by. The three gerudos slipped by him while his back was turned and knocked out a wide eyed guard as he was surprised by the hilt of Nabooru's sword. They took a familiar route to the next jail cell and found Semalie and Taint, two other higher ranked members locked in the same cell both surprisingly quiet and ignorant of the three guards standing outside the cell with confused looks on their faces. Seeing no way of catching their attention while their eyes were closed, Nabooru and Renova snuck up behind the guards and swiftly knocked them out. The same procedure was used and when they reached the hallway they found Ganondorf waiting for them, with a few more of the guards swords.  
  
The next jail cell seemed deserted. A single gerudo was slumped in the back holding her head in her hands and there was no guard in sight. Being cautious, Nabooru waited at the doorway while the three other gerudos kept watch, Ganondorf had disappeared again. When after a few minutes nothing in the room moved Nabooru began to slowly slip into it ready at once to jump back out. The gerudo in the cell shivered slightly and a soft noise was heard from above her head. Keeping her sword pointed down as if she wasn't expecting anything she walked slowly towards the jail door. When she was within reach of the lock a guard suddenly swung from the ceiling and lifted a long heavy sword that he pointed at her. This guard was different, he was bigger, muscular, and wore less armor with more weapons. Nabooru lifted the smaller guard's sword with a practiced ease and watched as the guard swung around trying to separate her from the cell door. At first he swung at her while she dipped and jumped out of the way, refusing to move from her position by the door. Muffled noises were heard from the hall, some guards had spotted Renova, Semalie, and Taint. Nabooru continued to dodge the guard's attacks, the sword she was holding was frail in comparison to his huge sword he had trying to hack away at her. Carefully watching the lock she tried to stay away from his blade so she could free the locked gerudo though every time she backed up he swung harder and sent her a little more off to the side. They continued battering like this, her jumping and his swinging and it was speeding up as she tried to avoid it.  
  
When one swing came to close she finally jumped far away from the cage door. It was hard not backing into the hallway so she continued going sideways until she was pinned with the wall behind her. Seeing as she could jump away no longer, she finally lifted the sword and blocked one of his swings. Sparks flew and tiny hunks of metal left her small sword. The guard gave another swing and Nabooru ducked to avoid it before he sent it backwards causing her to lift her blade from her crouched position. She was pushed closer to the floor as the small sword started to look like it was sagging. The guard lifted his sword again and she jumped up only to be knocked backwards against the wall as the impact of the sword sent her flying and snapped the sword off of the hilt leaving her only the jagged ends left. She sank back against the wall holding the remains of the sword as the guard smiled and walked towards her lifting his sword. 


	6. Against the guards

Looking up to his face, she lifted the small remains of the sword. He swung and knocked it from her hand. He held his sword firmly and she looked up at him, defenseless. The pile of the shattered remains of the sword was in a heap a few feet from her, and the handle was useless lying beside her. He swung down hard and she closed her eyes, a loud noise from hall stopped the guard for a second before he let it drop. The sword came down hard, when suddenly it stopped. Nabooru opened her eyes to see sparks flying from another sword blocking his from her. Ganondorf stood a few feet from the guard trying to block the heavy hit at the awkward angle he was at.  
  
Although in a small daze Nabooru still had enough sense to see Ganondorf blocking her from getting hit from the guard's right and an opening on the guard's left which she quickly crawled to and headed back towards the cell. She couldn't see where the gerudo in the cell was and the lock seemed impossible resisting all attempts at her picking it. The guard and Ganondorf were squaring off, the guard having a heavy sword and Ganondorf wielding a strong one. Each swung sliced metal and Nabooru was still working at the impossible lock. Ganondorf raised his sword for an upper hit, when the guard blocked he spun and sliced the guard's side. The guard at first grabbed for his side but then lifted his sword and charging though not at all catching the gerudo king off guard. Nabooru resorted to other matters, when the guard grabbed his side she dove past him and picked up a sword shard cutting her hand. She slipped out of the way of his charge and went back to strike the lock with the shard and was rewarded when it clicked and started to slide off. The guard turned its attention back to Nabooru and as it walked closer to her Ganondorf once again struck at him now slicing though his back and leaving it a bloody mess.  
  
When the lock slipped some more she struck it again. A noise was heard coming from the hallway. The guard struck again only to get cut again. The noise was louder and screams were heard. Nabooru struck the lock again her hand now gushing blood, she almost had it. The sound grew louder, and louder, then it stopped and there in the doorway stood another massive guard, more heavily armored then the first and wielding a very large sword. Ganondorf blocked the first guard's coming assault then was distracted by the second guard and he felt his first hit from the guard on his shoulder. Nabooru finished the lock, she kicked open the door only to spin and see the second guard's massive blade slicing towards her.  
  
A large flash accompanied something that Nabooru suddenly held in her hand to block the second guard's sword. The men left in the room dimly tried to adjust to what she was holding while Ganondorf hit the first guard in the chest and threw him at the wall. The guard still standing blocked his eyes only to receive a painful slash from the sword Nabooru was holding. When the guard swung blindly again he cut through the cell door and exposed the gerudo inside to an escape. Nabooru swung again with her white blade, the white blast finally fading away it revealed the sword Ganondorf had earlier found and pointed out to Nabooru. Nabooru swung at him one last time and sent him flying towards the wall as she ran into the cell towards the slumped gerudo.  
  
The gerudo inside looked up weakly when Nabooru entered and used the wall to stand up. "Isle" Nabooru exclaimed surprised. Isle looked to Nabooru and fell against her revealing a deep wound on her back. Nabooru leaned Isle against her shoulder as she balanced her sword and left the cell to see the once surprised guards slowly starting to stand again. Ganondorf met her eyes and nodded as he walked towards the first guard slumped nearer to him. Isle stopped leaning on Nabooru and grabbed the remains of the doorway for support. The remaining guard slumped against the wall started to lift his sword and look for Nabooru in a drowsy stupor. She swung with the white blade leaving a mark in his armor looking like an x combined with the previous slash she had delivered.  
  
The guard slumped to the ground and Nabooru sliced at his hand as he dropped the sword. She lifted the fallen blade and pointed it and her white sword at the guard's throat. On the opposite side of the room Ganondorf had done something similar and the guard now lay unconscious while Ganondorf proceeded to strip him of some of the weapons he had adorned himself with. Nabooru lifted the guard's sword and let it fall conking him on the head and making him slip into an unconscious state.  
  
Appearing in the hallway entry were the three previously rescued gerudos along with three more, Ruby included. Next to Nabooru and Ganondorf, the seven now freed were the next highest ranked council members all very skilled and smart. The majority of them looked to be all right and only Isle seemed to have had a guard that beat her. "Where have they locked up everyone else?" Nabooru asked to no one in particular as she walked to Ganondorf's side and handed him the fallen guard's sword. Ganondorf took the sword from her and looked to the rest of his council who were looking at him expectantly, Isle being helped by Taint. Isle looked towards the outside exit, "the majority are outside in cages, very very small cages". Cere and Lyiamere, the two gerudos that had been locked with Ruby both looked towards her confused. "You escaped" Cere asked. "Yes" Isle replied, "they put me under heavier guard". Nabooru nodded the information confirming the two guards that now lay unconscious and she leaned into Ganondorf as the seven gerudos continued to talk. "What now" she whispered as Ganondorf dropped his head slightly to listen. "We go outside, and we find the rest of them" he replied draping an arm over her shoulder and slightly leaning on her. Nabooru looked towards him and frowned, "you know I could use a better answer then, that". Almost grinning Ganondorf looked back at her, "do you think I know any more about this then you do?" he asked watching her turn her head away from him. Nabooru stopped frowning as Ganondorf stopped leaning on her and turned to the rest of the gerudos. "Isle" they both said at the same time before they looked to each other. Nabooru looked back to Isle with a triumphant smirk, "when you said the majority, did you mean there are still some locked away inside?"  
  
Isle turned to her two leaders and nodded, "yes, I didn't count but I am sure they have more of us locked away somewhere though not all in guarded jail cells". Ganondorf let his arm fall from Nabooru's shoulder, "if there are still some left inside" he started to say before Nabooru interrupted him, "then some of us will go free those and the others go outside". Ganondorf nodded, "I will take one or two of you with me, the greater number needs to stay with Isle". "I've changed my mind" Nabooru suddenly spoke up before she turned and quieted her voice to talk to Ganondorf alone, "We should stay inside as much as possible, they will have greater numbers outside and we have stealth inside". He met her eyes as she said this and nodded, "you are probably right," he said before he pecked her on the forehead and turned back to the seven other gerudos who were waiting patiently. Nabooru wasn't as surprised by his behavior and she turned to face her counsel as well. "Change of plans" he said, "Seems like we will be releasing any gerudos inside first, though we should still split up for stealth purposes". Nabooru looked up at Isle, "I want Ruby, Lyiamere, and Cere paired, take whatever pathway you can find and don't be shy on taking out the guards. Taint, Semalie, and Renova stay with Isle and us until we find the healer room, there I want Taint to stay with Isle until you can find that fairy someone hid in there a while ago. Semalie and Renova take another pathway and if you meet up with either of the other groups join them, although we can cover more ground apart we can release more gerudos together." Ganondorf looked to Nabooru, "Very good" he said before turning to the seven others, "don't let yourselves get caught, and remember the armory rooms, if you head there first you can stock up". The seven gerudos nodded then paired off and disappeared in opposite directions down the hall. Ganondorf let his arm fall around Nabooru's waist, she looked to him ready to shrug it off but he had a worried expression on his face. "How many of them have fought recently," he asked. "I know Isle has, and Renova does a little training once a week but the others have all been very busy and." she trailed off as Ganondorf put his finger to her lips. He walked towards the hall, "they are all gone, put the guards in the cell and try to fix the lock you destroyed". Nabooru looked towards the much heavier guards and frowned as she tried lifting one up by the elbows and inched her way towards the cell. Ganondorf turned to see her struggling before he stepped behind her and grabbed over her arms to pull the guard into the cell. Nabooru let go and turned towards him, she smiled "will you be getting the other guard then?" Ganondorf nodded as Nabooru turned to work with the lock.  
  
Down the hall Isle staggered her way with her escorts as they stopped at each corner and waited for the guard to come by before Renova would reach out and knock him unconscious. The progress was slow and Isle was starting to leave a trail of blood so the thieves all turned up a notch trying to help her. By the time they reached the room, two guards were trailing them down the hallway and they had circled around a few times trying to avoid them. Semalie began the search of the room, every loose brick was moved and every corner scoured. When she came up with nothing she looked to Taint, who began her search checking some areas looser and others tighter. By the time Renova was called to help, every inch of the small cubicle had been searched. Isle leaned in the doorway watching, taking in some feeling of superiority to her currently incompetent peers. When each failed Renova finally turned to Isle, "okay do you know where it is?" she asked as Isle left the doorframe and moved jaggedly to the center of the room. Isle raised her foot, and stomped twice, the brick underneath her moved and out came a little red fairy that soon circled around her and was gone. Isle smiled and flexed her arms as her pain disappeared; she then motioned for Renova and the four of them left to unlock any other gerudos.  
  
Meanwhile, Ruby and Cere had discovered a locked room that had mysteriously had a door installed. Lyiamere was down the hall from them looking for a guard to tackle for a sword while Cere worked at bashing it down. Ruby was searching around it for the hinges, trying to pull the crude devices out by hand. Ruby had managed to pull out the first hinge, roughly put on and easy to screw out. Lyiamere had bashed down two guards, neither of them carried swords, so she continued to stay and smash guards, having a small pile of unconscious bodies next to her. Cere smiled as Ruby pulled away at the second hinge, "Kind of like a raid, except on our own fortress", she said leaning on the wall in some sort of glorious gloating. Ruby nodded not trying to loose her concentration. "Makes you wonder" Cere started to say to Ruby before stopping and going back to gloating. Lyiamere turned from the newest guard who she had gagged and held to look to Cere who was now looking off elsewhere in a dreamy stance. She shrugged before hitting the guard on the head then searching him, to her delight, he had a sword. 


	7. Defeating the guards

Ganondorf and Nabooru were walking side by side as they slipped through a deserted hallway. The passageway they were taking was not known to many people, as it served no purpose when they weren't trying to sneak around. Nabooru sighed as Ganondorf floated by beside her, silent and getting more confident in his doings. Rauru had been trying to prevent him from being confident around the gerudos, but it was hard with such a community like the gerudos to use outside influence and succeed. They reached the end of the hallway and Nabooru slid through a trap door down a latter with surprising memorized practice for not taking the pathway very often. She turned to see Ganondorf behind her and she started walking again, they were headed towards the throne room where it appeared to be more thickly blocked by guards which they hoped was the sign of maybe a leader of the guards or of more jailed gerudos.  
  
Nabooru hugged the edge of a wall as a guard passed by absolutely oblivious to her presence. She waited until his back was turned completely around and just for good measure grabbed the large bag bulging with rupees hung on the back of his belt. Ganondorf watched her pull the tricky maneuver before quickly ushering her and her new treasure away from the clueless guard still marching away from them. It was easy to slip by the guards around this area, they would walk by talking to themselves and so lost in thought that one could have simply stayed to the side and walked by all of them if out of their line of sight. This meant that for two professional thieves like Nabooru and Ganondorf, the guards were meaningless as well as subjects to be robbed that led to acquiring a few bows and swords that were dropped off in a cabinet along the way.  
  
As Nabooru and Ganondorf neared Ganondorf's throne room the amount of guards in the hallways intensified greatly and soon the two thieves had to revert to waiting around the corner then dashing. It became very obvious that the guards had centered their efforts on keeping control of the building by setting up in the center. A very good method for the gerudo's fortress, for it had been designed originally so the king was in the center though towards the back and could always easily issue and receive orders and reports. Another thing that was soon becoming obvious was that the way the guards had taken over which seemed to be so due to the large number of fighters. The gerudo's highest troops were not actually at the fortress at this time, they had other missions like raiding some of the borderland travelers as they entered hyrule and protecting the fortress from the various fiends out far in the desert.  
  
Another corner was rounded and Ganondorf still tried to keep in the steady hurried pace of Nabooru. It seemed as if Nabooru was trying to find a new way to the throne room for every turn she could go straight through on she passed and instead went for a wide circling path. Ganondorf had started to have little urges to just turn and leave her, but he wasn't sure what Nabooru's plan of attack was and he didn't want to ruin whatever she was trying to do.  
  
As Nabooru once again missed an entrance to the throne room Ganondorf couldn't help but stop in wonder. "Where do you think you are going?" he asked confused. "This way" she replied not stopping. "Then I think I will just go down here" he stopped and looked to her daringly. She turned, "And leave me all by my lonesome? I don't think Rauru would like that very much". Ganondorf grimaced, "why don't you want to go to the throne room?" This made Nabooru stop completely and walk towards him, "who said I wasn't going to the throne room?" She frowned up at his face; he was obviously annoyed with her. "Circling around won't get us anywhere, if it seems like the guard's leader is in MY throne room then we should go to the throne room and one of the last entrances to it is right here" he said pointing down a hallway. Nabooru looked to where he was pointing before extending her arm, "then go there already". Clenching his fists in rage he tried to keep himself under control as he grabbed her wrist and started to pull her down the hallway. On instinct Nabooru stopped as he tried to drag her and she started to lightly struggle. "What you don't want to go" Ganondorf said as he stopped to glare at her. "No" she replied, "I would rather take a different way". Stopping Ganondorf looked to her now back to being confused, "what other way did you plan on going" he asked. She smirked, "take this way since you feel so confident about it, I will just have to meet up with you later". Ganondorf's grimace turned to a frown as he nodded, "fine". He released her wrist and left down the hall leaving her by herself.  
  
A guard walked down a hall to a large room with a door in the front knocked down and tons of open cages stacked on top of each other. The guard looked about cautiously before stepping in and walking through the rows of cages. He looked down the last row and saw a single gerudo standing there picking a lock. "Hey" he bellowed as he charged towards her. The gerudo smashed the lock with her hand and ran as a gerudo slipped out of the cage and followed her. The guard walked to where they had run to and was shocked to find it empty except for a large pile of guards on the floor. He stared at this confused, and then he blacked out.  
  
Standing in the center of the large room by the pile of guards, were the seven members of the gerudo council. Isle, third in command to Ganondorf and second to Nabooru stood in the center as the head of the council. Renova, Taint, Semalie, Ruby, Cere, and Lyiamere also stood by her all facing a large crowd of previously rescued gerudos. Isle beamed at them, "Our king and general are busy fighting these invaders at their source, the throne room. So I say we go and finish the job, lets get their guards!" The crowd all nodded and some cheered as they split into sections to fight the guards. Being that the guards and fighters were locked outside, not many of the gerudos rescued from the room were known for fighting so they were relying on numbers instead. The seven council members also divided themselves and together, the group left the room off to terrorize the intruders wandering their fortress.  
  
Ganondorf looked about him cautiously as he entered the final hall to the throne room. He was worried, worried he might be surprised, worried Rauru would throw him back in the sacred realm, and worried that Nabooru would get hurt or reach the leader before him on her own. He walked at a steady but hurried pace, he normally didn't work alone for these types of things though he had much practice from single handedly taking over hyrule. He reached the end of the hallway and took his first step into the throne room. A large panel of guards surrounded a man to heavily clouded in armor to be recognized. A guard armored like the two fought back in Isle's cell was talking to the armored man and Ganondorf noted that the man was sitting in his throne. Ganondorf looked about him still unnoticed and saw no trace of Nabooru, or a passageway she could have been talking about. He took another step into the room and a guard must have heard this for he started to look about cautiously startling a few other guards.  
  
Sitting on the gerudo's throne Eldon moved uncomfortably in the armor. Eldon wasn't a very strong man and he had a small build so he had pretty much been swallowed by the large armor. He was one of the higher ranked members of the king's council, though not favored by Zelda or her current lover Link. He looked about him as the guard that he had been talking to stared uncomfortably. "Someone else is in here with us" the guard said looking towards the passageway Ganondorf had come from. Three of the guards slipped off from the formation and began to walk the sides of the room. Hiding behind a pillar, Ganondorf sat in wait.  
  
Eldon stood from his seat and parts of his armor slipped off of him and sagged to the floor. Not being able to stand it any longer he threw off the heavy metal and picked up a sword to try and fend off the attacker. The guards still looked about them confused, fighting a prepared gerudo was impossible. Ganondorf slipped to the next pillar with plans of attacking the small poorly armed man, Eldon, standing and looking quite ridiculous. Raising his sword, Ganondorf slipped to the final pillar and waited for the guard scouring that side of the room to come near him. As soon as the guard was within his range Ganondorf let his sword slide into position and he slipped out quickly to jab the guard and drag him behind the pillar while knocking him out. A guard noticed Ganondorf's quick movement and looked to see a black figure coming at him. With two guards down Ganondorf knew his hiding place had been discovered so he slipped to another pillar and laid in wait. A guard walked towards him slowly and in a few stabs the guard was down as well. Slipping behind another pillar Ganondorf could see he was slowly terrorizing the guards, exactly as planned.  
  
Eldon dispatched his guards to check the pillars and sent a few down the hallways to bring in help. Seeing Eldon unguarded Ganondorf took his chances and came out spinning at him planning to chop him into pieces. Two guards immediately blocked their leader while Eldon shakily stepped backwards and watched Ganondorf defend himself from two heavy swords both coming at his chest. As he slashed out his sword to block one of the guards hits the other guard sliced his back making him cry out in pain and leaving him unprepared for the other guards attack on his front. The surrounding guards formed a circle around Eldon and backed to the corner of the room while two more of the guards came at Ganondorf. Now barely able to defend himself Ganondorf was attacked from all angles and was taking in gashes that bled badly. He swung around and was able to knock out one guard but that still left three and in his angered and beaten state he couldn't seem to summon any of his spells that wouldn't get him locked away, leaving him with his black magic which of course would get him locked up.  
  
As he the guard to his left lifted his sword to chop off Ganondorf's arm, Ganondorf swung hitting him squarely in the chest and knocking him to the floor. Now with a place to escape to Ganondorf jumped to his left and lifted his sword to see the guard on the floor recover and the remaining two come at him again. As he tried to get a fighting stance against the pains and blood the guards continued to come, ready to fight him to the death. The guard on the floor recovered and jumped up to charge through the other guards right at Ganondorf. As the guard came near Ganondorf with his sword raised Ganondorf weakly swung his sword to block off the hit. Ganondorf started stepping backwards trying to avoid the guard. The guard came at him again and when Ganondorf deflected the hit his sword was knocked from his hand.  
  
The guard recovered again and charged one more time almost making Ganondorf want to shut his eyes when something jumped in front of him and swung at the guard's chest knocking the guard to the floor. The figure in front of him danced about hacking away at the guard when he tried to stand and preparing herself for the two guards coming at her. Ganondorf smiled as he picked up his sword and watched about ten more guards rush from Eldon to fight the figure who was now easily knocking out the two guards. Ganondorf put his sword in its hilt and chanted a small spell while the female in front of him danced about the ten guards expertly. About two seconds later a black cloud sped around the female figure and took out all ten of the guards. The figure turned to smile at Ganondorf then rushed towards the remaining guards and Eldon. Ganondorf chuckled to himself, "thank god for Nabooru," he whispered before he to rushed towards the remaining guards.  
  
Eldon ran out of the circle to the outside making snide comments to himself. He ordered his men to "take care of business" in there while he went out the back way to boss around the guards outside. It was impossible controlling something held by the gerudos, and he knew that if the troops had returned his reign wouldn't have lasted the small period of time that it did. As he jogged past a hallway he found himself widening his eyes and running faster as down it was a gerudo hacking away at a series of guards trying to attack her. He was also a little frightened by the two gerudos that had attacked him in the throne room, although badly beaten they both took out his four best guards with ease, and with a spell knocked out the rest.  
  
Outside a sorcerer waited while Eldon came running. "Ax "he yelled, "Ax how are the guards outside". Ax the magician bowed his head while Eldon approached him, "fine" he replied, "how about inside?" Eldon shook his head wildly, "apparently their king is back and I swear I saw the Spirit Sage taking out our elites". "The Spirit Sage" Ax exclaimed, "I would have never thought her to be more then a mere scholar". "No, she is definitely a fighter in their community, I would never have guessed either" Eldon said looking to the inside before regaining his posture and looking out at the caged gerudos who all were looking very bored and under careful watch in case one of them picked a lock or broke out.  
  
Preparing herself Isle lied in wait along with a small group of fighters as she awaited commands from Nabooru or Ganondorf. The fighters had all armed themselves and were ready to attack. Renova was across from them with a mix of gerudos who had some experience fighting thought the majority were scholars. A younger gerudo child crept in from a doorway and chatted privately with Renova before sneaking back in and Renova coming towards Isle. "Ganondorf and Nabooru are hiding somewhere up the hill where they have a sorcerer and the keys to the cages. We can pick a few of the locks here but it will be hard without alerting the guards" Renova said pointing towards a guard who just happened to wander out of step and near them. Isle nodded and Renova crept back towards her awaiting troop.  
  
Nabooru stood by Ganondorf as they looked towards Eldon and his sorcerer. Ganondorf was still bleeding but he had other plans for now. By the two was a pile of loot robbed from the guards who had been knocked out and dragged into a cell in the dungeon. "What now?" Ganondorf asked as Nabooru looked out over the guards. "The cells locks are in straight lines, I can take them all out from the top of the hill. Isle and Renova are at the bottom, they can take care of those cells". Ganondorf nodded at this, "Taking out the guards will be easy, I'm more worried about the sorcerer as magic can easily ruin a battlefield, and the fortress." This was something Nabooru could understand, no gerudo would want their home destroyed. Ganondorf rested a badly gashed arm on Nabooru's shoulder and looked out once again at the cages, "If I have to use any more black magic, close your eyes" he said. Nabooru nodded, she didn't have to report Ganondorf using any darker methods if she didn't see any. Ganondorf moved his arm from her shoulder and started taking a path to the road of cages.  
  
Eldon sneered as a guard started to lean against a cage in sleep, he considered warning the guard but he figured waking up to find all of his possessions missing was a bigger punishment. As Eldon continued to look about him Ax straightened and prepared a staff he had brought with him. Ax was a powerful white magician and he knew when something he didn't like was approaching him. Two guards shuffled and looked about as though they had seen something. The caged gerudos became especially quiet. Eldon turned in a circle confused, he hated when something he didn't know about before hand happened.  
  
Ax slowly chanted a white magic spell; a small circle began to glow about him. A light flashed somewhere in a corner but Ax was too involved to notice it. Ax chanted a little faster, the atmosphere intensified. Nabooru waited behind a row of guards waiting for her cue. Ganondorf held a black ball of energy in his hand; Ax had almost reached the final stages of his protection spell. As Ax chanted the final word, Ganondorf let loose his ball of energy before he ran to the opposite side of the wizard he was attacking. In a single swipe Nabooru slashed the backs of the guards in front of her both wounding them and stunning them giving her the opportunity to burst through them and sprint towards the line of gerudo cages. Ganondorf came at Ax from the opposite side and pulled out his sword. Ax saw the approaching gerudo king and lifted his staff in some sort of flimsy attempt blessing it softly with white magic. Ganondorf smirked to himself as he wondered why the wizard in front of him thought he; the king of evil would be weak enough to charm his weapons with dark magic. He lifted his sword and brought it down hard on the staff snapping it in two. A series of guards started for Nabooru then reverted towards Ganondorf who was attacking their leader.  
  
Nabooru slid to the cage line and approached the first lock before spinning expectantly as a guard's sword came down upon her. She had anticipated the attack and used it as the perfect opportunity to swipe the sword from the guard's hands leaving him very confused as she bashed it on his head knocking him out. Holding the sword at a practiced angle, Nabooru arched the sword in her hand and sent it spinning down the row of locks expertly cutting through them and leaving the gerudos to bust out of the cages. Ganondorf had now knocked Ax to the floor and was easily blocking off his spells without magic, an attribute to him that left him far superior to the older wizard trying his hardest to harm him. Eldon now very frightened was clueless and he watched his sorcerer fall to the floor while tons of gerudos appeared from no ware and attacked his guards while his guard reinforcements from the inside and lower half of the fortress never came, obviously held off. Still in shock, Eldon felt nearly petrified as a blade was suddenly pushed to his throat and Isle grabbed him around the neck.  
  
Seeing their leader in this position, the guards all turned, some unconscious and others very close to it. Ganondorf pointed his sword at Ax and looked to see what would happen next. Stepping up to face Eldon Nabooru smiled and looked about her. "I think we won," she said with an evil grin, "now GET OUT!" The guards were piled on to large carts, in the cages the gerudos had been originally locked in and Eldon was bound and gagged and put in the driver's seat of one of these. It took a little under an hour to get the entire army piled up and sent out across the bridge from the fortress. Standing at Ganondorf's side Nabooru nodded off to a slight daydream and enjoyed a satisfying feeling of victory while the surrounding gerudos worked quickly to try and restore order. When the confusion had settled Ganondorf walked inside with Nabooru following and headed towards his chambers. 


	8. Restoring the king

Well, since a lot of authors like to write stuff before a chapter I figure I will put something too. I realize the story appears to be a rough draft, and a lot of it still is. If I ever get some free time in my busy schedule I promise I will edit everything that doesn't make sense. So feedback really REALLY helps, and that and any ideas about where I should make this story go are really appreciated. Ummm, I don't know what else to say.. So if your reading it, continue to read it and ummm, enjoy it? Really I don't care, but remember, if you feel like flaming, don't make it stupid! Bye Bye! ^_^  
  
Inside Ganondorf slowly took off his damaged armor and waited for Nabooru to return with a few bandages. She helped him dress a few of his wounds before she started cleaning a few gashes of her own. Neither of the two had come out to badly, and it was obvious that experience had something to do with it. Later that day while Ganondorf lounged on a couch reading some old document, the only thing on Nabooru's mind was how he had recently been behaving. She had thought about it for quite some time, and had finally reached a sort of standpoint. Her plan was to soon bring Ganondorf back to Zelda and the rest of the sages and see if she could get him readmitted into Hyrule. If they refused, she planned on keeping him at the fortress where they couldn't lock him away as easily. Though her plan was sketchy and could easily have the opposite outcome, Ganondorf having to leave, she preferred trying then sitting and waiting.  
  
Nabooru woke up early the next morning and walked into Ganondorf's chambers to find him fully awake and clothed. She greeted him and then waited a few minutes to make sure he was ready to leave. Then she started down the scattered halls that had lines of guard's dropped possessions on the floor. Ganondorf took his time, he stopped at random moments to talk with a passing guard and he didn't seem to notice Nabooru's constant irritated glances or her deliberate way of acting like she was in a hurry. When the two were finally out of the fortress Nabooru headed straight for the desert and was shocked to see Ganondorf turn the opposite way. When she finally had him started across, she was both deeply annoyed and angry.  
  
As they crossed the haunted wasteland, Nabooru was silent and didn't respond to any of Ganondorf's attempts at starting a conversation. "So why so quiet?" he asked after about fifteen attempts at getting her to talk. Nabooru shrugged, her annoyance with him had faded but she still didn't know how to phrase her request without opening it too much with Ganondorf around. "Are you okay?" Ganondorf asked in response to her shrug, she replied with a nod of the head. "Are you sure?" no verbal reply. After a few more minutes of this Ganondorf gave up on his second in command and returned to crossing the desert in silence.  
  
At the temple Nabooru trotted off at a fast pace down a series of hallways with Ganondorf barely able to catch up. She finally arrived at a small room lit by two torches with a big bowl in the center that was filled with a black liquid. Nabooru looked into this black mixture and called out "Temple of Time". A vivid image of the temple flashed and then Rauru's face fuzzed onto the surface. He nodded his head, "yes Nabooru" he asked tightening a robe around his stomach. Nabooru smiled, "I seem to have this problem here. You see I believe my king, Ganondorf, has been behaving really well, and now I would like to let him retake his position with readmittance to Hyrule. " Rauru nodded his head, "we will discuss this matter at the next sages meeting, if you finally show up" Nabooru nodded at the watery surface, "Please consider my request unbiased, I would be overly grateful if I could finally return to my errands in peace" Rauru again nodded, Nabooru couldn't help noticing how his fat rippled as he fuzzed out of the surface and left her there alone.  
  
Ganondorf slowly walked up behind Nabooru and slipped his arms around her waist. She turned her head from the blank pool in front of her and looked to Ganondorf looming over her shoulder. "When" Ganondorf asked softly pulling her closer. "We will find out at the next sages meeting" Nabooru said softly as Ganondorf pulled away from her. He started back into the hall before turning to face her expectantly. Nabooru turned and walked past him into the hall towards the entrance, with Ganondorf following. Staying silent, Nabooru still was reluctant to talk to Ganondorf as she had made up her mind to get him back to his former position and she was getting tired of having a constant companion.  
  
Waiting at the entrance, Ganondorf stood as Nabooru slipped back into the temple one last time. He knew why they had made this sudden visit back, he didn't know if he was to feel like she was trying to get rid of him or if she was trying to help him so he stayed at a neutral thought of her. Another thing that Ganondorf happened to have on his mind was the thought of what he had done to other people in the past for betraying him. This was a permanent problem for him, even the highest ranked gerudo officers could be thrown into the dark dungeons under the fortress if he found out of their disloyalty. Right now it was only because Nabooru was taking a while in the back rooms of the temple and he was still forced to wait for her. When she finally did come out she looked much happier and had replaced her earlier look of annoyance with a smile. Noticing this, Ganondorf found himself smiling and he didn't mind the delay of getting out the front doors either. Seeing her happy could cheer him up that fast, and he had no clue why.  
  
As Nabooru reached the entrance to the fortress again she felt like a burden had been lifted from her shoulders. She normally wouldn't have returned to the fortress immediately after the temple but there was a mess to clean up and she was very good about not procrastinating responsibilities. Walking through to the dirt road a gerudo holding a large pile of assorted golden items and expensive looking clothing tried to wave but gave up quickly having to reach down and regain her cargo to keep it from dropping from her arms. Farther up the street there were a few younger children jogging about and indulging some game that consisted of one of them from a few feet away engrossed immensely in their activities. As Ganondorf and Nabooru picking up a fallen item from the road then the rest trying to steal it from them. Cere sat watching passed neither took much heed to the children. Unlike Cere who was in charge of the schooling and military training for the younger children, neither seemed to care for the younger children.  
  
In the fortress a guard sat instructing some of her peers as various gerudos happily walked from place to place picking up various fallen goods and carrying them away. In a small stone room a young gerudo soldier sat trying to stifle some tears as a series of large gashes on her leg were being treated. Nabooru stopped to watch this and was shocked to find Ganondorf grab her by her arm and pull her along farther down the hall. When they reached one of the many larger rooms in the fortress reserved for stolen treasures, they found it crammed with goods, and Semalie talking to a group of gerudos about trading prices. Farther ahead, Renova was looking over a large series of weapons in one of the storage rooms. Nabooru no longer led as Ganondorf now had a pretty tight grip on her arm and was obviously bringing her with him wherever he planned on going.  
  
When they reached the outside of the meeting chambers, Ganondorf started to bring Nabooru along with him inside but was met with a sharp tug. Turning in shock, Ganondorf was met with two sharp bright eyes and a harsh whisper, "what's wrong, think I'm going to disappear if you don't constantly hold on to me". Weakly smiling Ganondorf dropped her arm and Nabooru's harsh stance loosened to follow him inside. Isle had been talking with a counsel seated at a stone table before her and showed little surprise when Ganondorf entered. She stopped what she had been saying and bowed her head in acknowledgement as he seated himself at an empty chair at the end of the table, a chair that was always left empty for him in case he came. Nabooru entered not causing as much of a stir as Ganondorf had and seated herself beside Ganondorf. Seeing this Isle stopped talking again for a second, but restarted when Nabooru gave her a quick wave of acknowledgement. The meeting continued with much livened up compared to before as both Ganondorf and Nabooru had their own ideas on what was to be done about the fallen items everywhere and the many broken things scattered by the guards. When it finally ended, the gerudos filed out quickly with new orders to help quickly restore the fortress, as on average it took the gerudos three days to make everything look entirely untouched and today they hoped they could finish and accomplish it in two.  
  
As soon as the lower ranked gerudos filed out Isle sat at the table with Ganondorf and Nabooru and folded her hands politely. Her demeanor changed completely alone with her only two superiors and now she awaited feedback. "So are we going to change any status with the Hylains for their ever so bold move?" Isle asked as Ganondorf leaned back into the chair and Nabooru leaned on her hand both losing the previous air they had held with the other gerudos. "Probably to enemy" Ganondorf started as Nabooru widened her eyes and started to mutter a "but.." "Although since Nabooru would appreciate just giving them a warning and telling them the deal with no robbery of merchant carts is off we will probably have to go with that". Isle softly chuckled to herself as Nabooru sank back down and Ganondorf pulled his arms behind his head. Isle made a mental note to herself before starting to ask another question, "what would you like me to do about the." she started but was quickly cut off by Nabooru. "The goods will be sent out to the bored forests, since otherwise Ganondorf will want to cut off cut off trade with the Hylains all together". Isle looked back from Ganondorf to Nabooru before starting another question, "and the.." Ganondorf interrupted her, "The weapons may be distributed evenly to the schools and emergency military equipment". Isle nodded her head, "Okay then, I think I will leave now that I have some decent information. Nabooru lifted her hand and waved while Ganondorf smiled at her.  
  
Standing and stretching Ganondorf walked towards the exit. Nabooru quickly followed suite and walked beside him to his chambers, his overall favorite meeting place. Nabooru entered and sat on a plush red couch while Ganondorf lay on a satin blue one across from her. Neither of them spoke for a few minutes before Ganondorf stood and walked to sit by Nabooru. She slightly leaned on his large figure now next to her and neither spoke as he put an arm around her and gently rubbed her back. "If all goes well, you can go back to ruling as usual very soon" Nabooru said. Ganondorf nodded and leaned back sinking into the couch. Nabooru reclined and softly let part of her body rest against his chest. Neither spoke as Ganondorf pulled her closer to him and let his mind drift as he stared at nothing in particular.  
  
Nabooru reached down and slowly let her fingers run against his hand lying around her waist. He softly smiled and turned to her, "yes" he asked. "Before you were locked in the spirit realm, your obsession with the triforce and darker arts seemed to make you, well a little more unfair and I was just wondering if when you are released out on your own again if you are going to revert back to your old ways or if." Ganondorf placed a finger on her lips, "Are you suggesting that as soon as I can become king again I will be a bad ruler?" His facial features began to reflect a sterner look. "Well no" Nabooru started as Ganondorf clenched his fists slightly, but enough to startle her. She considered telling him the entire time he was never a bad leader, but instead chose to continue on the topic. "I was just suggesting that when you are back in power, maybe you won't be as", cruel, CRUEL, she wanted to scream, "unwise.. in your.decisions around the fortress". Her last phrase was barely drawn out as Ganondorf continued to retain the harsher appearance. He was quiet for a few more seconds then he sighed and pushed as stray lock of hair from Nabooru's face. "What a picky little girl" he said as Nabooru perked up. "Picky, what am I being PICKY about?" she asked in a playful manner. "Oh so picky and doesn't even know it" Ganondorf sang softly as Nabooru folded her arms with a devious smile aboard her face.  
  
He stopped his teasing as he settled back into the couch, he didn't show any concern for Nabooru's earlier comments, but then he trusted her too much to expect her to try anything. She on the other hand was surprised, one day the secret would come out that she, Nabooru, had been the one that led the growing rebellion against him while he was in power. He didn't know either that this was one of the real reasons his two surrogate mothers took her captive.  
  
"So, when is this next Sage meeting?" Ganondorf asked breaking another momentary eerie silence. "Soon" she replied now thinking of other problems with the meeting. "So as I hear the majority of the sages despise me," he asked looking thoughtfully towards the ceiling. "They only know you as the man who caused a very large mess in Hyrule, they don't know YOU, the gerudo king." Ganondorf nodded at this statement as he gently began playing with her ponytail, "And why is the fat slob so insistent on me being sent straight to the Spirit Realm and beyond" he asked turning his attention to her face. Nabooru had considered defending Rauru's honor, but in Ganondorf's presence she felt no need to hide her feelings about him. "That slob makes my life miserable as a Gerudo, he is definitely racist and he used my time at the meetings to request I prevent some of our tribe from going places and.." Ganondorf hushed her with a smirk and pulled her closer to him, "don't worry," he said softly, "I hate him just as much as you do". Nabooru smiled and let her head rest fully against his chest, if there was anything she shared with Ganondorf; it was similar likes and dislikes. Which meant they both got along the majority of the time two opposing points were brought up.  
  
Ganondorf looked about him for a moment before standing and walking towards a back room. Nabooru stood as well, but walked opposite from him towards a mahogany table on which there were a few scattered documents. She shuffled through a few of them then shook her head with a light giggle; apparently Ganondorf had forgotten his other responsibilities. She sat and looked at the first, it was a light tan color and came from the Hylain Palace, after reading over it she realized it to be some sort of apology though it refused to state it clearly and it came with an urgent demand for the soldier's possessions to be returned. She crinkled it and walked to a fireplace against a far wall that she tossed it in. Returning to her seat, she found the next paper, a letter from the zoras requesting that the gerudos not throw as much litter into the river below the bridge. She frowned at this; it meant the soldiers loved making a mess. The next passage was from a merchant who listed prices for items he was willing to buy if they ever stole it. Setting this aside, she thumbed through the other letters and found nothing that unusual until she managed to pull up a note, from a band of thieves asked Ganondorf in the letter a dreaded question. Nabooru reread this note about fifteen times and almost wanted to gag, it was a notice about him returning to the assassins, something Nabooru never wanted. At that moment she felt a hand on her shoulder, "anything interesting" asked the low males voice behind her. She quickly crinkled the letter and tossed it to the fireplace, "Nothing not either caused by the soldiers or too boring to mention" she replied looking up at him.  
  
Ganondorf smiled and removed his hand stepping around her to start looking at the remaining documents himself. Nabooru stood and walked back to the couch. She sat on this and slowly let her mind wander. Ganondorf finished looking at the letters before eyeing the crinkled papers in the fireplace. "What did those say?" he asked breaking Nabooru from her daydream. "Do you really want to know?" she asked sleepily. He shook his head softly before starting towards a small stone bookcase in the corner. "Shouldn't you be doing something?" he asked as she once again let her mind start to wander. "Like what?" she answered as she let her head roll back. "Make something up," he said as he slowly let his hand sift along the titles of the rows of books. Nabooru slowly got up from her chair and sauntered towards Ganondorf's place at the bookcase. "Should I get you something then?" she asked as he turned from his place to look at her. "Go check on the kitchen, I hate to see you doing nothing" he said as he turned back to his books. Nabooru nodded and left his chambers nodding at passing gerudos as she walked down the hall and entered the blank gerudo kitchen.  
  
Because a cook in the gerudo clan was something hard to find, there was rarely a day where there was no help needed. A few smaller children bustled about as they eagerly mixed pots and carried bowls full of ingredients very carefully from one place to another holding them as if they were full of precious gems. Nabooru smiled at two children both holding a large black cauldron and taking it towards a small fireplace to be heated. Seeing Nabooru a cook eagerly grabbed her and started asking advice about a course for the night's feast. After talking with the cook for a few minutes, she soon found herself helping, as she was known for having some talent in the kitchen.  
  
Nabooru was busy preparing a salad, whose ingredients had been obtained through two thieves hard work at a traveling merchant cart. As she was tossing in the final ingredient a sweaty young girl walked in and demanded help in the archery range. Nabooru complied and soon found she instructing a group of six year olds how to shoot a bow and arrow which was hard work at such an early age. When the sun had set and the younger children had all left Nabooru took one last glance to make sure she was alone before taking out her tan horse and grabbing a loaner bow. She added some arrows to a small quiver and slipped onto her horse's back.  
  
Aiming her bow at the farthest target possible, Nabooru slowly pulled back the string and let the arrow fly hitting the target straight on the bull's eye. She then kicked her horse and starting at a run, she hit a series of bottles lined up along a target line. After they had all been smashed to the ground, she turned to face backwards lifting her bow above her shoulder and started shooting the targets from behind her. At the end of the range she looked back to see every single target not hit perfectly. She replaced the equipment and went back for dinner.  
  
The next few weary weeks Ganondorf spent eagerly involving himself in the gerudo's activities and waiting the day where Nabooru could return him to his original power. The days went by rather fast for Nabooru; she was beginning to feel the effects of being second in command and now had another to confer with decision making and an extra step of confirmation to get anything done. When the day arrived for the sages to vote whether Ganondorf could stay or not, both Nabooru and Ganondorf were saddled on dark stallions and left the valley with much enthusiasm behind them from the gerudos behind them, who all were waiting for their king to fix the troubles they had been having. And though the two gerudos rode out regally from the valley, both Ganondorf and Nabooru immediately slouched and added various capes and such for disguise as they relied on stealth to slip through the Hylain town gates.  
  
After crossing the bridge, Nabooru navigated the crowd with relative ease being used to it but Ganondorf was having other troubles, being taller and not being able to see Nabooru's retreating form through the thick crowd. When he reached the steps to the Temple of Time, he found Nabooru waiting for him, and the crowd nowhere to be seen. He approached her and she led him inside waiting to meet Rauru.  
  
This sage meeting was not conducted like anything Nabooru had ever experienced before. Many guards and such hung around the building and watcher her king with sharp eyes daring him to try something. Ganondorf waited patiently and with little care towards any of his observers. The sages all acted edgy and looked towards Ganondorf repetitively all wondering what he would try once in power. The only person managing to look regal and not sullen or fearful was Zelda, who asked questions of Ganondorf as if he had never committed anything bad. Standing by Nabooru's side, Ganondorf answered her questions in good humor and would every once in a while set a hand on Nabooru's shoulder. Seeing his conduct, Nabooru would give his hand a squeeze every few times he did this trying to be reassuring. The ever-observant Impa was the only sage not darting her eyes about or asking shaky questions of Ganondorf, she preferred to look towards Nabooru and catch her eye at various moments. The two had managed a sort of language between each other this way and today was no exception.  
  
At the end of the frenzied meeting Zelda and the other sages left to a back room while Nabooru sat and Ganondorf gently massaged her shoulders though he was definitely more tense then she was. When the sages came out, they all nodded and Rauru made a big fuss about introducing the decision. When he announced that Ganondorf was to stay, a few of the other sages grumbled and Ganondorf nodded his head as if he knew it was going to be that decision all along. Finally, Zelda offered Ganondorf and Nabooru a temporary treaty between the two kingdoms for a short time and had Ganondorf sign it. When all was said and done, they both left and snuck out of the marketplace to the open Hyrule field.  
  
Standing in the open air, Ganondorf pulled Nabooru very close to him and smiled barely able to control his happiness. Finally, they mounted their stallions and rode off back to the valley. Ganondorf led, once again he was king. 


	9. The King is Back

I've finally decided to update. And look, I've included wider spaces. ^_^ enjoy!  
  
Within a day the entire Gerudo ruling system was switched back to Ganondorf's super organized sequence. With Nabooru it had been lax, sure there were scheduled meetings and such but everyone did their own thing and came when necessary to solve a problem. Ganondorf was much stricter, gerudos had to check in with him at appropriate times in order to proceed with a project and there were certain organized times during the day where gerudos could see him. Being as Ganondorf ruled much stricter and scheduled, some of the gerudos had a much harder time adjusting to his plans. One in particular, was none other then Nabooru. Being used to doing as she pleased anyway, Nabooru was having a particularly hard time switching her busy schedule to Ganondorf's.  
  
As Ganondorf sat on his throne awaiting the lower ranks period of time to visit him, he stroked his chin and looked for Nabooru. She was supposed to be at his side during this time to help him with his judgment, more because he could be unfair then because of any balance of power. But as he sat here and acknowledged the first few gerudos, Nabooru was nowhere to be seen. He listened to the first few issues and sent the gerudos in question off to fix them. After three of these, he leaned over and told a guard next to him to bring Nabooru to him. About ten minutes later, she arrived, face flushed and very untimely in her way of walking towards him. Ganondorf waved off the gerudo talking to him and motioned to Nabooru who slowly made her way up to his throne not even bothering to try to look dignified to the surrounding lower ranks.  
  
Standing in front of him, she placed a hand on his knee and looked into his eyes, "Am I too late?" she asked. He smiled to himself and dragged her arm to his side, "Yes, so make up for it". She nodded and leaned against his chair as the gerudo in front of them finally being able to talk poured her heart out of the problem. When these comments from the gerudo public were finished Nabooru still quietly nodded to herself about the problems and quickly snapped to attention as Ganondorf dismissed her and got up himself to leave. Ganondorf exited through a side door and left to a conference room where he was expecting to meet with a series of gerudos addressing issues about happenings outside the fortress. Nabooru who had her own schedule, was not attending this with him. Ganondorf found this out at the meeting where he again sent for her and was not surprised to see her arrive late, and out of breath. He didn't consider it his business to ask where she disappeared to so he simply let these incidents pass and waited to see what would happen.  
  
Things Ganondorf began to notice about his society were that through Nabooru's reign many alterations had been made. Nabooru held feasts, but not nearly as often as he did and that the gerudos seemed more accustomed to her informal gatherings then his large prepared feasts. This did not bother him as much as the fact that with the exception of the top seven scholars in the council, the majority of the scholars in the gerudo race didn't like organized daily meetings. Ganondorf would have yelled at Nabooru about this, but the army was in top shape and he couldn't help but continue to notice their promptness and devoted spirit spent towards any project they were given plus the fact they could schedule and organize a meeting for the entire army within minutes. This impressed him greatly, and because he had always been more military acclimated anyways he let the scholarly issues slip.  
  
For the next few weeks, Ganondorf spent his time organizing his activities, which was relatively easy for him. He would come back to his chambers every night and either spend his time alone or walk out to engage in another nightly activity. Nabooru at first spent her time near the fortress, but when it became nearly impossible for her to continue with her normal schedule she had Ariel carry out her orders and such to and from her. One night while returning from a larger feast Ganondorf returned to his chambers and at once found himself perplexed with Nabooru's disappearances. He was used to having her at his disposal and with her duty split between him and being a sage he found it harder to go about with his activities. Calling for a guard, Ganondorf sent for Nabooru and sat back on a chair to wait for her. Nabooru arrived and softly padded up the steps to find him at rest in his chair looking at some document, which she noted was not about black magic. He set the scroll down and indicated to a couch for her to sit on. She did so and lazily lounged back.  
  
Ganondorf looked to her, "Why do you disappear for so long" he asked, no tone of suspicion was shown. She shrugged, "This and that, a lot of stuff at the Spirit Temple". He nodded, "That is ALL your doing correct?" Nabooru nodded. Sitting back farther into his chair Ganondorf tilted his head, "And before I was gone, when you weren't a sage were you doing 'similar things'?" Nodding but looking towards the ground Nabooru shifted, she was wary about releasing the information she knew he was probably looking for.  
  
He continued to stare at her, "and also before I..", he started to say but was quickly interrupted. "Lets not talk about before okay?" Nabooru blurted out. Smirking, Ganondorf crossed his arms, "Dismissed" he said as she got up and left him. Slight suspicions were beginning to rise about her previous behavior. Ganondorf closed his eyes and wondered: the long periods of time she had spent missing, the rumors of revolt, and the acts against his growing darker policies. He had hated that time were many gerudos had been thrown in the dark dungeon under the fortress and so many had stood up against him. The leader had never been caught, the leader who was obviously intelligent and had some connections higher up. Ganondorf never wanted to think of Nabooru as the leader of such a movement, he held her in high esteem and trusted her fully. For her to be found guilty of such a large crime that hurt him so much and degraded his power so quickly, well he didn't want to even think of the large punishment ever being given to her.  
  
Meanwhile down the hall from him, Nabooru couldn't help but wonder if he knew she had gone against him before. She wouldn't do it again for sure, a memory of the final days of the revolt before he left had her confirmed of that. He had kissed her and then made her promise to make sure nothing happened if he had to go away for long periods of time. That almost had made her change her mind then. She had gone against him, upturned his superiority, and had him blocked from full power during his darker magic days. By simply talking to other gerudos it had nearly lost him all of his supporters and made it very hard for him to perform in the fortress. It was lucky the campaign against him had been directed at his obsession with the triforce and practice of dark arts, because otherwise it would have been very hard to help him back into power. She continued to walk down the hall worried, she would do anything for him now but if Ganondorf kept looking back and found out, she knew she would be in deeper trouble then anyone she had ever seen before.  
  
The following morning Ganondorf awoke and spent a few minutes tidying up his chambers. He walked out into the hallway and was greeted by a guard who bowed her head and then whispered something into his ear. "Trespasser caught, his trial is in about an hour". Ganondorf frowned at the news and turned to walk in a different direction, trespassers were never welcome during his reign and ever since Link had so easily slipped through the security had tightened. An intruder now suffered much harsher punishments, and after only just being allowed back he didn't want to have to deal with the punishing. But then, he did have those moments where he almost wanted to go back to his old ways of torture. Not now though, he had more important matters to worry about.  
  
Ariel slightly shook the sleeping Nabooru, "wake up Nabs, can't miss the trial". Nabooru sleepily opened one eye, "trial? Today? Why when I was up so late last night". She grumbled and sat up from her small mattress and while tossing the silk sheet off to the side. Ariel turned to leave the chamber when Nabooru stopped her, "how long do I have?" she asked. "About forty minutes" Ariel replied before leaving. Nabooru fully stood and walked to a dresser to put on her pink pants. On occasions like these she would wear her traditional white outfit with a special jewel piece on her forehead. Today she didn't want to attract the trespasser's attention and she almost didn't even put her normal jewel on.  
  
When she finally had gotten ready and exited the small chamber a guard immediately saw her and pointed to the direction in which Nabooru knew the trial to be held. She made her way down out of the building she had been staying in, it wasn't one of her main chambers but she hadn't wanted to stay in the fortress or at the Spirit Temple that night. Walking out onto the dusty road she found no other Gerudo in sight, apparently they were all off wondering about how Ganondorf was going to punish the trespasser. Nabooru was curious as well, but she was worried about what Rauru would think of the trial. It was definitely worrisome that Ganondorf's fate was in the hands of a balding man whose normally wise judgment always seemed anti-gerudo.  
  
Nabooru walked into the large courtroom and found that indeed many gerudos had gone to see. Ganondorf was sitting on his usual court throne while behind two small gates the spectators area was packed. Nabooru took a seat next to Ganondorf where the rest of the council sat. Two guards escorted a hunched figure covered by a dark purple cloak to a table in front of Ganondorf.  
  
Ganondorf snapped his fingers and the hood was lifted from the figure. Neatly brushed black hair peered out of the hood, which the man quickly pulled back into a ponytail when the guards let go of his arms. He had two brown eyes that swept the entire room before coming to rest on Ganondorf. Nabooru was quite taken back by his appearance, for being a trespasser that had been caught in a desert he certainly was handsome. The man tried to remain calm but his eyes reflected his worry. One guard kept her hand on his shoulder; it made his olive features look pale in comparison.  
  
Snapping Nabooru back to reality Ganondorf took his eyes from the man to lightly punch her shoulder. "He was found in the desert just outside of the guard post by the sand river" he whispered, "I don't know what to make of him". Nabooru nodded; if Ganondorf couldn't make up his mind it meant she might have complete control of the intruder's fate. Of course sometimes that could be a bad thing.  
  
Ganondorf rested his arm on the chair and leaned on his hand. He snapped his fingers and the two gerudos forced the intruder to sit on a small wooden chair placed behind him. Chuckling softly Ganondorf pointed at the frightened man with his free hand, "speak". The intruder met Ganondorf's eyes, "I'm terribly sorry, I was lost, I didn't mean to trespass into." A gerudo next to him cut him off as Ganondorf frowned, "But you ARE a trespasser". The man straightened. "If I had known I was too close I would have left immediately" he said as politely as he possibly could. After rubbing his chin for a moment Ganondorf replied, "If we let every outsider who was "lost" wander about our land do you know how easy it would be for someone who might actually cause harm to get in?" The man nodded, "Yes, but I assure you I would do you no harm".  
  
Nabooru frowned, she wanted to trust this man a lot but for some reason she felt him dangerous. Ganondorf stroked his chin one last time before he reclined and smirked, "I'm not sure what to do with you" he said out loud. Many murmurs erupted from the crowd. The man looked down, it looked to be a humble action to Nabooru but it could have been deceptive. Ganondorf called out to the guards next to him, "Put him in the lower dungeon, I'll deal with him later". Nabooru squeezed her eyes shut as the man finally looked up and took his eyes from Ganondorf to her. The man let his eyes rest on her, and they seemed to stay there even after he had been taken from the room. Nabooru opened her eyes and looked to Ganondorf . "Wasn't that a little harsh?" she asked. "What did you want me to do", he replied, "let him go?" For a few seconds, Nabooru was sure she hated him, although she didn't know where the feeling came from. Ganondorf turned to face her, she couldn't help but feel everything against him slide away as she took his side then walked out of the room with him.  
  
It was a very degrading experience for the man, he found himself blindfolded and then taken somewhere that must have been far away because it required a lot of walking. He then was dragged down a set of stairs and tossed in a cold damp stone cell where the blindfold was finally removed. The two guards left him there, and the man was left feeling completely alone in foreign territory. He had heard of Link's adventures through this very same fortress, but Link had been given a high dry cell with a window. It was obvious to him security had tightened, he was in a regular jail cell with three stone walls and one that contained a metal barred gate. The gate itself was also small, and gave a very claustrophobic feeling. From what the man could tell between the tightly spaced bars, the room he was in was large and probably stone also, just it was too dark to make out anything beyond a wooden post spaced a few feet from his cell.  
  
One of the two guards looked towards the man from the top of the staircase, she hadn't been down to the lower dungeon in a long time. During Nabooru's rule, the most used were the upper cells and confined rooms. Ganondorf on the other hand preferred to use the lonely dungeon that led down a long hall to the outside. Of course this lower dungeon was more dangerous, various boxes and old weapons lay in heaps around the room and creatures from the desert loved to use these as hiding spots. The guard shook her head, almost out of concern for the prisoner, and left the dungeon.  
  
Nabooru tried to stay by Ganondorf's side for the rest of the morning, but within an hour she found herself gone again having to perform another duty. It of course bothered Ganondorf that Nabooru was not with him full time, she was very helpful and his tasks got done in half of the time it was taking him. He still lived through it and at the end of his day; he lounged in his chambers and called for Nabooru.  
  
This time Nabooru didn't look as flushed and hurried, she sauntered in on time and took a seat by him boldly. Ganondorf grinned as she looked to him and rested her elbows on her legs. "You called" she said. "Did you really not appreciate my decision earlier" he asked as he let his hand trace imaginary patterns into the pillow he was leaning on. Nabooru sighed, "Well, I was a little disheartened, I had thought a more decisive decision would have been made, something that didn't involve leaving that poor man down there for such a long time". Ganondorf shook his head softly, "would you rather have had him killed?" he said letting one of his eyes flicker dangerously. "I don't know", Nabooru, replied wisely, " I shouldn't challenge your judgment".  
  
Obviously impressed by the answer Ganondorf nodded to himself and let his head sink into a pillow. "I guess what I really want to ask you about" he said thoughtfully, " is whether you still respect me and my opinions". Nabooru pondered the question while Ganondorf continued, " Would you ever go against me, Nabooru can I still trust you?" Nabooru's head jerked up, "Why of course you can" she said trying to mask the tint of worry she felt. Ganondorf watched her slim figure, he couldn't tell if she had tensed at his inquiry. When he had been put back into power his suspicions had been aroused. For him, it was impossible even to trust who he had previously thought as his most loyal companion. Well, before he had the witches lock her up and punish her of course. Ganondorf was silent for a few more moments before looking her straight in the eye, "You can go now". Nabooru frowned for a second before standing to leave, "Are you okay?" she asked. He nodded as she turned from him and left the room.  
  
Nabooru gasped as she walked at a quick pace down the hall. Ganondorf could at any moment discover the secret, and his quickening deductive skills had her worried. She was glad to encounter no gerudo guards that night; she wouldn't have been able to face them.  
  
The following morning Nabooru woke up on time and continued to do her early duties. A young gerudo guard in training was being punished for a mistake and almost crashed into Nabooru while hurrying away. This event did not startle Nabooru, and neither did a runaway horse that barely avoided trampling her while she sauntered by the stables. By the time she reached Ganondorf she appeared so calm, but out of mind that he almost did not notice her.  
  
Sitting upon his throne, Ganondorf had been idly chatting with Ruby. Nabooru snuck in quietly and stood a little off to the side. Ganondorf lifted his hand to acknowledge making Ruby turn as well.  
  
"Good, you're here" Ganondorf said as he sank comfortably into his throne. Nabooru nodded, "You were waiting for me I presume". "How could I have began to address other concerns without help" Ganondorf said before adding, "nothing bad today either". Nabooru approached the side of the throne and nodded to Ruby. Immediately after a small group of flustered gerudos rushed into the room.  
  
"We were hoping" one started, "to receive permission to host a junior guard tournament". "But we were also hoping" another said, "to be able to allow non gerudos into a larger tournament." A third gerudo from the small group waved her hands, "we promise to allow nothing to get out of hand". Walking in from behind the small group a taller gerudo, Jasmine, the current captain and trainer of the guards pushed through to face her rulers. "I'm so sorry about this, with no notion of sounding so rash, I was hoping to once again host our annual tournament next month". Jasmine paused as one of the girls in the group grabbed her arm and whispered something into her ear.  
  
Ganondorf twirled his fingers while watching them in amusement, "Three tournaments does sound a bit much right now". Ruby smiled, "I would agree with hosting the Gerudo Trials again". Nodding his head Ganondorf thought out loud, "Ah yes, the Gerudo Trials, its been quite a while since we have hosted that tournament now hasn't it". "Expanding it would be marvelous" Ruby added. Jasmine pulled away from the younger gerudo who kept a firm grip on her arm. "What we were hoping for you to approve on disposing the age limit and allowing more non-gerudos to participate", she continued "the last tournament held, about ten years ago, was more of a tournament between the races then a challenge between our ranks". Frowning Ganondorf folded his arms, "as I remember that had been hosted on our lands, which had disastrous results". Jasmine excitedly stopped him, "We can host it in a more suitable location, there used to be an old arena somewhere in the South east portion of the Hylain Fields. With some minor repairs we might be able to upgrade it to useable condition". Ganondorf unfolded his arms, "Sounds fine to me, just it seems a little short on time to prepare".  
  
"If we advertise it correctly I'm sure some other people of Hyrule will help" one of the gerudos in the group called out. "I could easily manage that" Ruby said, "I need something to take my mind off the outsiders". Jasmine smiled, "then may we begin?".  
  
"Yes, commence" Ganondorf said as the young gerudo finally released Jasmine's arm and clapped. Ruby indicated towards the exit, "Come, I need something to do".  
  
Approaching Ganondorf's throne from the side, Renova entered the throne room. Ganondorf turned his head and nodded towards her before looking to see three guards rush into the room. Ganondorf talked quietly with the three guards before they left almost as quickly as they came. Semalie and Taint entered the throne room next, each pointing and arguing over a particular section of a document they held.  
  
"Ganondorf", Semalie began, "If some random group from the forest border lands keeps requesting our assistance on attacking some random town in the border lands should we help?" "Why is a group in the borderlands even requesting help from us?" Ganondorf responded. Taint spoke up, "They claim to be a mix of pirates and thieves, I personally have never heard of them before". Semalie looked from the document to Ganondorf, "we don't know what to do about them, they keep bombarding us with pleas for assistance, and yet not only do we not know them but they plan on attacking another town who we hold nothing against".  
  
Ganondorf let his fingers drum on the chair, "Would they be a threat if we didn't help". Taint shrugged, "I don't know how big or dangerous they are". Ganondorf frowned, "What would be the outcome of us helping them?" "Unclear" Semalie replied, "If they are simple some small band of thieves then we would be simply marking ourselves as a threat to whatever kingdom that town is part of". "But" Taint continued for her, "if they are a large band, possibly from another kingdom of thieves they could be an ally, and if the town just another random trading town then we would lose nothing". Ganondorf sighed, "I don't know what to do about them, send one troop out to help them with the orders that they are to abandon the group if any funny business comes up".  
  
Both Semalie and Taint nodded. "So we stay impartial but still do something" Taint said, "interesting". The two left the throne room, while Renova turned to Ganondorf. "Was that a wise decision?" she asked. Ganondorf shrugged, "I have no interest in the borderlands and yet problems there keep arising. That would have been a lot easier if either of you had said something" he finished. Renova looked down, "sorry" she said softly. Ganondorf turned to face his second in command, but she still remained silent. Looking straight ahead of her, Nabooru shrugged, "Doing anything in that situation would have been against my better judgment" she said turning to look Ganondorf in the eye. Ganondorf sighed again and turned to face the entrance, where some other guards were coming in.  
  
Nearby the throne room, two gerudo guards struggled with a blue haired woman. "Let me go" the captive shrieked as the guards tried to hold her down. Isle entered the room, and closed the door; this room being one of the few with a door. The blue haired woman stopped struggling at Isle's entry.  
  
The blue haired woman tossed back her short light hair as Isle approached her and tipped up her chin. Looking the blue haired woman in the eye Isle frowned, "where did you come from" she asked harshly. "Nowhere you would know" the woman replied defiantly. "Why are you here" Isle asked this time even more gruffly. The woman didn't answer. One of the guards kicked her in the stomach, "Answer her correctly" she said forcing the woman to grimace.  
  
"I'm here to see that sorry excuse of a man you call your king" she said. "How dare you say such a thing" one of the guards said giving the woman another kick. Isle frowned while the guards tightened their grip. The blue haired woman let her head drop, "I'm sorry, please let me go". Isle grabbed her head and rammed her knee into it making the woman fall.  
  
Both of the guards let go as the woman sank to her knees on the ground. Lifting her head the woman stared at Isle, her eyes burning with rage. She stood without assistance while the guards eyed her every move. Before they could react, the woman thrust out a small hidden sword and pointed it to Isle's throat. "Let me see your king" she said in a commanding voice. Isle looked at the woman smugly, "I would have shown you to him anyway, he decides the punishment for our prisoners".  
  
The woman's eyes widened, "Punishment?" she stuttered. Isle grinned as the guards grabbed each of her arms. "Don't worry, you will see the king" Isle hissed, glad to have regained control. The woman turned her head to stare at Isle as the guards took her from the room, "You present me as an enemy to him, but I can assure you I am far more loyal then you can ever be". Isle raised an eyebrow, "oh really" she said sarcastically. "Yes" the woman said as the guards closed the door, "I would never be loyal to a traitor".  
  
Isle watched the door slam shut behind the trio, before she felt the blood drain from her face. The woman knew that she had participated in the rebellion against Ganondorf, but that wasn't what Isle was worried about. As Isle burst through the door and ran the opposite way down the hallway she could only think of one person, the leader of the rebellion. She turned a corner and started to sprint.. If the woman released Nabooru's secret, she would be free, but the entire gerudo government along with Nabooru's safety was in danger. 


	10. Trouble

Okay Amanda you win, I'm posting another Chapter. This is the first update since December I think, and it probably won't be the last. I don't care if anybody reviews or not...this is just for fun. Oh yeah, and I do not own Zelda, just in case a lawyer happens to be reading this.

Ganondorf leisurely leaned against his arm while another gerudo approached him with a complaint. As the issue was especially boring, he could not think of any response when she finished. The girl in front of him looked up with big eyes, "so your verdict?" she asked innocently. Nabooru spoke up for the silenced king, "Yes your irrigation idea is good, but transporting the water from Lake Hylia is just as easy, and less costly". Smiling Ganondorf waved the girl off before turning to his second in command. "Thank you" he whispered before turning to face another gerudo, this time a guard.

Nabooru watched Ganondorf patiently talk to the guard who seemed extremely annoyed and was having trouble keeping her voice lowered. Renova had turned to talk with an attendant. Nabooru's eyes fell to an hourglass sitting on a small pedestal in the middle of the gigantic room; there was still a sufficient amount of sand at the top. Bored, she rested her eyes back on the flustered guard. A sudden movement to her left made her eyes once again wander.

Isle stood panting in the side hall to the throne room; she straightened as Nabooru tilted her head slightly in her direction. Knowing she had caught Nabooru's eye, she made a quick gesture for her to come. Nabooru cocked an eyebrow before turning to Ganondorf and whispering something in his ear. Ganondorf nodded and looked to where Isle stood before turning back to the guard.

"Nabooru, you have to leave" Isle panted pulling Nabooru out of Ganondorf's vision. Nabooru's face remained unreadable, "why?" Isle stuttered, "we caught another trespasser, she knows...she knows you led the rebellion". Nabooru put a finger to her lips, "shush" she said, "how far are they from the throne room?" Isle pointed, "she is here".

Nabooru turned and looked, there indeed entered a blue haired woman surrounded by two guards. Lyiamere trailed them into the room, and Taint peered around the corner confused. The woman looked almost defeated, but still trudged with a hint of defiance in her step. Lyiamere had her arms folded and looked particularly annoyed.

"Nabooru please leave" Isle whispered. Nabooru nodded and turned to leave. Isle put a hand on her shoulder, "do you think he will notice you being gone..."she began to ask. "Only if she does tell him" Nabooru responded. Isle tried to hold back a tear, "good luck" she whimpered as Nabooru walked down the hall casually but hurried. As Nabooru turned the corner Isle let a single tear drip down her cheek, "please come back alive".

Ganondorf watched the struggling woman and stopped leaning on his hand, he was ready for a more interesting problem. "Ah, what do we have here?" he asked with a slight grin. "Another trespasser" Lyiamere responded for the guards, "and a feisty one too". The blue haired woman lifted her head to look at Ganondorf. He sat on his raised throne with each hand resting on the armrest, his figure alone was imposing. "And why are you here" he asked almost sarcastically. The woman glared at him, "Does it even matter?" Ganondorf raised an eyebrow, "In your case, I think it does". The woman almost growled, "I want to be released". Ganondorf chuckled, "such a bold request for such a rude woman". Angered, she tugged at the guards and pulled forward almost breaking free. Ganondorf watched in amusement before calling to the guards "release her" The woman fell to the floor and looked up to Ganondorf still angry. He couldn't help the fact that he was enjoying torturing this woman.

Now on her knees the woman looked even smaller and more defenseless, "you laugh now but you are such a fool" she growled. "Hmmm?" Ganondorf implied as he stopped his small chuckle. "You made a fool of my leader" the woman said softly, "but your own people have already made such a fool of you". "I don't think I know what you are talking about" Ganondorf said, he finally stopped grinning. "Oh you know" the woman laughed, "your people rebelled and made you an outcast so easily". Ganondorf frowned, "That is completely irreverent to your situation now". "Stop hiding" the woman said standing up, "you know what the rebels did".

"I already said, that is not something you should mentioning right now, remember you are at my mercy" Ganondorf replied angrily. "Hearing of this makes you angry doesn't it" the woman now wore an evil grin, "because you know someone higher up led it, someone you think you can trust is not loyal to you". Ganondorf frowned, he was falling into a sort of trance, "So you know who led it," he asked. One of the guards stiffened while Renova edged her way closer to the woman.

"Yes I know" the woman declared boldly, "and I promise you, if you had simply came back to our aid, you would never have to face this problem again". Isle grimaced, the woman had sleazy intentions. Ganondorf barely heard her offer, he had searched for this person for a long time, "Who?" The woman grinned, "Your 'faithful' little second in command" the woman said watching with glee as Ganondorf's eyes widened.

Renova slapped the woman, "How dare you make such an accusation" she cried out. Ganondorf barely heard this, "Nabooru? But there is no way...." Both of the guards ran forward and grabbed the woman's arms, they had heard enough as well. "You know she did" the woman said struggling forward against the guards, "she had the support, the skills, and the access to your every planned move". Ganondorf turned his head sharply finally noticing Nabooru had not returned, he stood and walked forward. Renova slipped out of his way, as he barged through. Lyiamere turned to watch him barely whispering a "what about the woman?" Ganondorf turned, "Lock her up" he said, anger was in every word. From the side hallway, Isle cried.


	11. Running from the king

Im posting 2 chapters in one day....talk about crazy...

Nabooru slipped through the streets quickly. She had wanted to take a back alley to sneak out, but she didn't have the time. A few gerudo guards looked at her questioningly as she pushed through a small crowd to get to the gate to the desert. Recognizing her the guard there called for the gate to be lifted, and the gerudo up top leisurely went about doing it. At the bottom Nabooru tried not to seem anxious, but couldn't help the worry that came when two guards burst out of the fortress. As soon as there was enough lifted for her to go through she shot under much to the surprise of the guard. She ran out and tried to find the sign near the river of sand.

Ganondorf made his way out of the fortress in a much shorter time, as he didn't have to look unsuspicious. He slipped through a shortcut to the gate without questions from any guards there and immediately came to the gate where the guard had to once again painfully call for the gate to be lifted.

Nabooru grabbed at the loose sand and eagerly shot out her prized long shot. She came to the other side and began to run again, barely being able to stop from falling in the shifting sands. She saw a flag and quickly made a dash to grab the pole. The line of poles was tedious to maneuver through, and lacking time made her barge through. She continued to barge through the pole's path while sand whipped her face. She passed the guide's rock and tried to continue running. A large sudden blast of swirling sand momentarily stopped her and shifted the sands making her lose her footing. She fell to the ground and slowly pulled up from the ground while panting. As she raised to jump to her feet, she nearly feel again to the sound of Ganondorf's oh too familiar voice.

"Don't move," he bellowed. Nabooru whipped her head to the side; Ganondorf's massive figure stood just a few feet from her. She continued to stand, but as she rose to her knees Ganondorf's boot heavily connected with her back. She rolled over to stare at him face up. Ganondorf bent down and grabbed her by the neck, "you" he growled, "traitor". Nabooru clutched at the hand around her neck while she began to whimper. "I'm...sorry, I..." she could barely make out any noise at all.

Ganondorf lifted her, forcing her to her feet. "I can't believe someone in my highest rankest would ever do something like that" he yelled angrily, "and this entire time I thought you someone I could trust". Nabooru remained silent, wanting to look down, to escape. Scowling, he threw her back down to the ground. "So pathetic, I hate it", his voice quieted, but not before he violently kicked at her frightened figure on the ground. Nabooru crawled out of the way only to be met by another kick. She flopped on to her belly and pushed herself farther away from him. Ganondorf marched after her, angrily kicking at the sand. He reached her and once again forced her onto her back, at the mercy of his will. "How could you do such a thing, go against me and when I thought I could trust you" he forced out beginning to growl again

"How could you?" he spat out punching at the ground and letting his fist land a few inches from her head. She gulped before whispering, "I'm sorry," then after a pause, "for this". Nabooru rammed her knee into Ganondorf's lower body, today he was wearing normal gerudo attire and no armor protected him. Ganondorf doubled over while she shot out from his grasp and began to run again. He stood watching her in pain for a moment, before letting out a roar of anger and charging after her again.

Nabooru ran barely being able to guide herself along the strict pathway. She stumbled over a large clump of sand and shot into the desert oasis. Immediately the spinning cactuses began to come at her, but none could reach her sprinting figure. Ganondorf followed not far behind. He entered the desert oasis much easier then she had and took to immediately charging towards the spirit temple. Nabooru threw herself up the steps and bursting in through the doors. Ganondorf threw open the temple doors to see Nabooru starting up a staircase, he snarled and charged after her just as she turned to jog down a hallway.

Still having the small lead, Nabooru turned to a back hallway and prayed she would lose him in the maze of hallways leading to her target destination. Ganondorf was no so easily fooled and quickly followed her down the back hallway, "Nabooru" he yelled as she turned another corner, "stop!" Ganondorf turned the corner after her and was shocked to run into two heavy wooden doors. He snarled and burst through them to find himself looking at a room with two large spinning spikes on chains rushing around the center. Nabooru looked to him in shock and dove into the chain's line of attack.

She immediately ducked as the large spike nearly smashed her head then rolled out of the way as the chain just about snagged her. Ganondorf looked about him for a second before jumping just barely out of the way of the spike. The confinement of the room meant that there were only two small pathways to the side of either chain, and both appeared to be guarded as when Ganondorf took a step a ball connected to a different chain swung from the ceiling.

Ganondorf threw himself out of the way of the swinging ball and made his way towards Nabooru. Crawling out of the way of the spike Nabooru ducked along the side path. Ganondorf not enjoying the constant ducking reached up and grabbed the spike's chain, tangling it around his wrist but stopping the spinning. He threw the chain to the side as blood dripped down his hand. Nabooru stood up and turned to watch him as she warily started walking backwards towards the other side of the room. Angry as ever Ganondorf continued to walk towards her, she had made it outside the spike's circle. "Ganondorf" she whispered, "get down, please".

He grimaced at her and continued to move towards her, "why so you can escape" he asked with a slight snarl. She shook her head, "Ganondorf, that chain can still move". Turning in shock Ganondorf watched as the chain suddenly jolted to life and spun towards him. It slashed his back and knocked him face down to the floor. Nabooru's eyes widened but she didn't stop moving towards the exit at the other side of the room. Ganondorf's hand twitched, and he raised his head to let his burning eyes rest on her retreating figure. He began to crawl under the spinning chain towards her. Nabooru felt for the back door and grabbed at the hard wood.

Ganondorf reached the end of the chain and pulled himself to his feet. There was a second of silence, Nabooru stood motionless at the door her face full of fear. Ganondorf stood just barely out of the chains reach, he stared at her for a minute, his expression softening, and then he charged. Nabooru opened the door wide enough for her to slip through then slammed it.

Safely on the other side she found herself in a strangely familiar hallway, large and extravagantly decorated but eerie. She quickly sprinted down the long hallway and reached the two heavy opposite doors. Letting her fingers slide over the smooth surface, she fingered the handles to them. Ganondorf burst through the opposite door, looking mad as ever. Nabooru went through the doors to the next room and left Ganondorf to watch in amazement as the two doors banged shut by themselves. He started down the hall, wounded and panting he maintained a brisk walk.

By the time Ganondorf reached the doors, whatever burst of energy he had gotten from being angry was gone. He let himself rest, bending over to lean against his knees before he walked closer to the doors. They were huge, stretching far above him and painted red with various swirls and spirals of yellow. Ganondorf stood and stared at them, he hadn't had much time to contemplate his decision to run after Nabooru since he decided it. Shrugging, he pushed the doors open; there was time for regret later.

Nabooru stood on a small red carpet directly opposite the doors and Ganondorf. The room they were in was humongous. It was composed of yellow aged brick and stretched on for a long time before reaching a domed top. Two large stone statues of giant like creatures that rose taller then a two- story house sat in the center. Ganondorf took a minute to let the room sink in, in here he felt stifled. And he knew why, the room didn't allow any magic at all.

Ganondorf stopped looking around the room to let his eyes home in on Nabooru. He stared at her all the way across the room, standing with her arms loosely folded but her head hung in a sort of strange fear. "Looks like I found you" Ganondorf loudly called to her. Nabooru's head rose, but she remained silent. He stared at her perplexed, before frowning. "And now I'm coming to get you". Nabooru did again was silent, she watched him walk from the doorway to the sand. The doors slammed behind him.

Ganondorf took another step, Nabooru did not respond. He took another step, she looked to the ground. Another step, she closed her eyes as a faint "boom" was heard. He continued to walk towards her, the booms got louder. Perking up his ears, Ganondorf stopped walking, he had reached the center of the room. Ganondorf looked to his feet, a few grains of sand jumped against the floor. The boom was heard louder, more consistent. Ganondorf closed his eyes then opened them, it was not an illusion, the sand on the floor was moving. Looking up to Nabooru again, he was met with wide eyes. A tear dribbled down her cheek, as Nabooru looked to the two statues.

Ganondorf slowly turned around and fell back in shock. To his sides large old stone loomed over him. The two statues had come to life, and were looking at him with mean eyes.  
He regained his former stance and backed up. Immediately the statues both grunted and one took a step towards him, his foot landed with a large "boom". Ganondorf gasped, and both statues became livid.

Ganondorf backed to a side, moving quickly as the Statue to his left began to charge at him. Running backwards, Ganondorf reached the wall and slid along it, unfortunately in the direction opposite the doors. As he neared Nabooru's small cove in the room, the second statue jumped to life and smashed down behind him. Now cornered against the wall by the two statues Ganondorf found himself with little escape. Dodging a stone fist he ran towards the first statue, where he was met by a heavy kick. He crashed back against the wall, cracking some of the stones. His eyes widened as another fist was thrown at him and he quickly threw himself to the floor. Rolling out of the way of the second statue's legs he made a dash and came out behind the two statues, in clear view of Nabooru.

Ganondorf watched as the first statue, quicker to react, charged at him. He bent down to a crouch and ducked between the giant's legs. The statue still on a running path smashed against the wall, and was temporarily extremely confused. With the first statue out of the way, Ganondorf concentrated on the second that had finally noticed him standing back in the center of the room. It charged as well, but stopped directly in front of him and threw a punch to the ground. Ganondorf jumped out of the way and watched as another fist came down nearly clipping his side. He continued to maneuver out of the way until a blow came down at a diagonal path, smashing Ganondorf's side as he jumped out of the way.

Ganondorf stopped in agony as his side began to hurt immensely. At that moment the statue punched with a force strong enough to clip Ganondorf's head clean off. Ganondorf put out his hands and caught the fist, straining his muscles to keep the large rock from crushing him. Across the room the other statue walked around in confusion, it had still not spotted Ganondorf struggling with the other statue.

Nabooru watched Ganondorf hold the giant stone creature's fist above him, a task she had never seen any other man do before. These giants had an unbroken record for smashing and mutilating all victims that had ever ended up against them. She had never seen a man last so long against them before. She had also never ever suspected that Ganondorf was strong enough to hold one like he was without magic or weapons.

"Nabooru" Ganondorf called, looking to her as a last chance at living, "Nabooru please call it off me, I can't hold it like this forever". Nabooru frowned, her eyes reflecting the straining man holding off the blow that should have killed him. Ganondorf stressed as the statue began trying to move its fist towards him again, it remained in its punching position and placed down its other fist for leverage. The first statue had finally taken notice, of a pillar and had now proceeded to claw at it violently.

Ganondorf strained his muscles again and placed a foot back, pushing the giant's fist upwards. He felt something go, and pushed harder as the giant's fist finally began to move. Pushing it to the side, Ganondorf strained one last time to throw the fist off of him to the sand. He panted for a minute, watching his victory to be short lived as the giant stood, its eyes wide and angry.

Ganondorf began to walk backwards, towards Nabooru, as the giant slowly lumbered towards him. He quickened his pace and reached the wall just to the right of her small opening. Not daring to go closer as the giant seemed overprotective he called out, "can you please call it off". His voice was desperate as he turned towards her, "please?" Nabooru let her eyes slowly travel to Ganondorf, standing there panting with a busted side and a broken spirit. She looked to him meeting his eyes, "can you ever forgive me". Ganondorf closed his eyes and turned his head from Nabooru to the large statue that had reached him and stood angrily above him. "Yes" he whispered as the statue raised a fist. Nabooru looked at him hopefully, "really?" she asked. "Yes really" he said slowly but gruffly.

Nabooru looked to her king, "you don't really think that", and then she added, "I can tell". "What do you mean I don't think so", Ganondorf responded in annoyance as the first statue saw him and began to walk towards him, "I just told you". Nabooru watched him with sad eyes, "Ganondorf I can't call these things off, and they will continue to eliminate whatever they consider a threat". Ganondorf gasped, "what?" he asked in an almost scared voice. The first statue's fist came down and smashed his stomach, once again pulverizing him against the wall. He slid down from against the wall and looked as the statue in front of him moved to let give Ganondorf full view of the other statue, as it prepared to charge. "Well if that's the case", Ganondorf said almost sad, "then I'm sorry for chasing you". Ganondorf closed his eyes and stood there defeated, waiting for the charge.

Ganondorf stood there waiting for a second as the statue began to charge booming away. As the booms neared him he stopped listening and just waited for the final blow. He stood there for a moment before he warily opened one eye, the blow never came. The first statue had stopped charging and was trudging back to its normal seated spot. The second statue had already taken its spot, opposite the first.

Ganondorf watched feeling extremely befuddled. Nabooru grinned as she watched the second statue sit, he obviously wasn't going to try and kill her again. Ganondorf let his arms fall to his sides as the last statue sat. He then turned to face the exit.

Looking to Nabooru with a confused expression Ganondorf asked warily, "why are they..."? Nabooru interrupted him by running towards him and throwing her arms around his neck. "You should be glad you are even alive" she replied resting her head on his shoulder and squeezing him into a hug. Ganondorf let his arms loosely wrap around her waist as she pulled away to look at his face. "I'm still mad at you" he replied staring at her with his burning eyes, but not matching the look with his beaten body. Nabooru jumped back into the hug, "we can talk later" she replied not wanting to spoil the moment.

Together, Ganondorf and Nabooru walked back through the spirit temple. Feeling extremely weak, Ganondorf leaned on Nabooru not even worrying at the time about how he would seem to her. Nabooru simply guided her beaten king down the hall and into a small room where she laid him down on a bed. From there, Ganondorf blacked out.


	12. The turning point

Ta da! Another chapter! Go ahead and read it...and again, I do not own nabooru or Ganondorf. I figure no one ever reads the intros all those other lovely authors write so ill just get on with it...

Nabooru gently woke him up a few hours later. Opening his eyes, Ganondorf was met with the small, sparsely decorated room, a typical guest room for the Spirit temple. Nabooru stood beside him, not speaking. Ganondorf looked at her standing there as he tried to formulate the right words to say to her, but he could find none. Nabooru sighed, "I'm sorry" she whispered, "again". Ganondorf nodded closing his eyes, as Nabooru took a step to leave the room. His eyes sprung open, "You do know I will still punish you for your crimes". Nabooru turned out of pure shock, "are you sure you want to be saying that right now?" Ganondorf nodded closing his eyes in a small grin, "you won't do anything if you want to remain in your high position". Nabooru turned on her heels and left, Ganondorf didn't say anything else.  
  
Later that day, Ganondorf opened his eyes once more to realize that he had once again fallen asleep. The wounds he had received earlier were nonexistent, though that was no surprise as he had suspected Nabooru had the power to heal a wound that quickly. What did come of as a surprise was that Nabooru had disappeared, and even after he had gotten up and paced the hall, he could not find her. Ganondorf walked outside and found the desert sky jet black and awaiting frigid air. It was too late at night for her to be wandering the desert, and she had more sense then to try and hide somewhere outside. He shrugged and went back inside, forgetting about his search for her for the moment.  
  
Ganondorf walked into the spirit temple to find the rooms dimmed and some of the torches blown out. He walked up the stairs of the entrance hall and wasn't surprised that the torches in the passageways had completely been blown out. He made his way down the darkened hallway and turned into one where the torches were still lit. He looked into a few rooms before he found what he was looking for. Sitting on a chair looking at a small stone fireplace was the graceful figure of Nabooru.  
  
Ganondorf slowly walked in and put a hand on her shoulder. Tilting her head her eyes swept from his hand to his face where she gazed up at him. He looked at her, his expressions unreadable as he bent down to her level.  
  
"I'm glad you have not left me," he said softly.. She looked to him and murmured, "Why would I leave?" Ganondorf simply smiled as he moved in to kiss her neck, "its so unfortunate that something so beautiful would ever do something so awful". Nabooru frowned "why do you say things like that if you plan on hurting me?" Ganondorf lifted his other hand and pulled her chin to look her in the eyes. "Why did you ever betray me?" he responded. "I do what I must for the good of the gerudo" she said, her eyes grew wet. "And do I not qualify as a gerudo" he said releasing her chin and looking to the fire. "Ganondorf, you know what I meant by that" she said, "I would never betray simply to harm you". "Oh" Ganondorf said, eyes beginning to flair, "then what did you mean by your betrayal, for me to get locked up or for me to not be in power?"  
  
Nabooru turned to directly face him as she rested a hand on his cheek. Looking at him with sad eyes she simply murmured, "No...".  
  
She held him there for a few moments before letting go. Ganondorf slowly pulled away from her and looked into her eyes. He knew what she had rebelled against him for, and he hated her for it. But then again he thought as he found himself stroking her hair, there was time for those feelings later.  
  
Nabooru woke up early the next morning, and found herself in a bed. It was obvious Ganondorf had put her there as she hadn't remember crawling into a bed the night before. She quickly got up and located her jewel piece, which was lying on a table near her. She considered putting it on for a moment before setting it back down, she didn't want the gerudos to see her in full attire if she was to be punished. The last image she could ever hope for them to not see would be of their great general being punished by their king.  
  
She walked towards the door to discover it locked. Turning a different direction she walked down the side hall. Standing in the exit was Ganondorf attired in his spare set of black armor. She crept towards him quietly while looking to the ground as he turned towards her. "You will be returning with me" he said, "and I plan on it being with you alive". He narrowed his eyes at her, "no struggling or attempts at escaping, I'm not in the mood to chase". Nabooru couldn't help it, she looked at him with devilish eyes and replied, "so tired maybe from..." he cut her off and backhanded her across the face. "None of that either" he growled pushing her down the hall and out the Spirit Temple's exit.  
  
Nabooru shielded her eyes and she started the path back across the haunted wasteland. Ganondorf followed behind her towering over her if she started to slow down and yanking her back sharply if she sped up. The trip across the desert was not pleasant at all, and when she walked by the Poe's rock even it looked to her in pity. As it was still early morning, the gray misty skies did nothing to aid Ganondorf's sour mood.  
  
At the fortress it came as no surprise that not many gerudos were outside. A few scattered guards did their early morning patrolling and one obliviously cheerfully waved at Nabooru and Ganondorf. Ganondorf kneed Nabooru in the back, hard, slightly angry she waved back as well.  
  
Inside Isle nervously paced around. Her eyes shone with relief when Nabooru entered the room then immediately went dull as she saw Ganondorf pushing along behind her.  
  
"Get some chains , she is to be punished for betrayal" Ganondorf growled, before looking to Isle with almost what seemed malice. Isle stood there stunned for a moment before hurrying off to find some handcuffs. Renova entered the room carrying some rope ones, and Isle stopped for a moment. "Rope?" Ganondorf said sounding a little pained at the site of them, before looking to Nabooru and nodding, "fine, fine".  
  
Sighing, Nabooru let Renova bind her wrists before meeting her peer's gaze. Renova looked at first with pity, then turned her eyes down in shame. Approaching Ganondorf again Nabooru sighed as she followed him out of the room down a passageway with Isle and Renova following. When they reached a point out of earshot of all those who were not supposed to be following, Ganondorf stopped and faced Nabooru. "I'm ready to take full responsibility for my actions," she said looking from her feet to his eyes. Ganondorf nodded, and his snarl slightly softened. "I suppose you are sorry" he said doubtfully, "but I do intend to fully punish you for you misdeeds".  
  
Nabooru bowed her head as Ganondorf looked to her, his mood being as fickle as fate at the moment. He debated with himself before saying, "You will be locked in the lower dungeon, if you survive the period down there you will be able to resume your full responsibilities". Nabooru simply nodded, she knew she would probably die down there but she was expecting something this harsh from her king.  
  
Isle and Renova meanwhile gasped, "With all do respect", Renova started timidly, "are you sure that would be the best punishment right now?" "Couldn't she...", Isle finished for her, "couldn't she just take a beating or something?" It was Nabooru's turn to gasp while Ganondorf looked at them with a puzzled expression, "You are suggesting other punishments?"  
  
Renova nodded "Yes, yes I..." she started as Ganondorf cut her off. "The decision is final". Isle shook her head as Ganondorf led the silent Nabooru away. Isle and Renova looked to each other worriedly, there had been spot tings of a notorious desert creature in that particular dungeon. And neither wanted for anything to happen to their most trusted leader, Nabooru.  
  
Nabooru was led down the long staircase to the lower dungeon. Ganondorf didn't even bother blinding or gagging her, she knew the way anyways. At the very bottom he found it unnaturally cold and quiet, it made sense of course as the only other person known alive in the long dungeon was the prisoner thrown in so shortly ago.  
  
Ganondorf led Nabooru to a post where he attached her bonded hands to shackles that held her firmly in place. Stretched out and worried Nabooru looked up to Ganondorf's eyes one last time, trying to plead her way out of punishment. To no avail he didn't return the look, and instead Ganondorf walked back up towards the stairs. He turned and took one last at her. He himself was still angry that his second in command would ever betray him, but punishing her meant certain dislike from his people. This was one of the hardest decisions Ganondorf had to face right now, and it was certainly killing him.  
  
Nabooru struggled against the rope chains feeling slightly glad they didn't make noise when jiggled. It came as a surprise that Ganondorf had allowed her rope chains, as they were easier to escape. While at the same time rope meant for splinters and it hurt a lot worse when tugged at then the cool metal. There was no reason she could conjure up that Ganondorf would have had to choose rope over metal, but there was always time for thinking later, she was concentrating on the fact that she was tied up to a pole in a freezing dungeon.  
  
Looking at Nabooru from his small cell door, the prisoner captured earlier eagerly peered at whatever had just been thrown in the dungeon with him. He was shocked to see a gerudo attached to the post, he didn't think they would lock up their own kind in such a place. He continued to scrutinize her, she was a lot prettier then the guards that had locked him up, and she appeared to be of lower class by the way she was dressed. As he tried to think of what she could have done to end up down so low Nabooru sharply turned her head, spotting him. The man cowered back out of the doorway and gray light. He didn't want to be seen in such shame, not regarding the fact that she was obviously in chains as well.  
  
Nabooru peered over in the cell, she was a little relieved that she wasn't the only living thing in the dungeon. She called to the dark cell, "hello". Her voice softly echoed through his small space. The man came to the front of the cell, he looked to his feet. "Hello "he replied.  
  
Nabooru smiled, "I'm amazed that you have survived this long in the dungeon" she said. The man looked up, "Its lonely down here, I would rather have died". Nabooru shook her head, "I'm sure you have family that you would want to return to, a reason to not die". The man frowned fingering the remaining fragments of a small dagger, "My fiancé was killed by a band of thieves, my house destroyed while I was on a trip...I hate thieves.". Nabooru shrugged while saying in the same mysterious tone as she had with Ganondorf, "Are you sure you want to be saying that right now?"  
  
The man frowned in confusion; she seemed rather calm for being left out in the open tied to a pole. "What could you have done that was so bad you had to be brought down here" he asked trying his hardest now to look her in the eye. She shrugged again, "take a wild guess". The man looked to the ground, considering this for a moment before suggesting, "Stealing something maybe?" Nabooru leaned her head back and let out a little laugh, "Why would thieves imprison me for stealing?" The man stared at her, there was something about her he couldn't figure out.  
  
In the distance a large clacking was heard, the man jumped to the back of his cell and Nabooru found herself going rigid. Nervously the man stepped back out and looked down the long hall, something else was down there. Nabooru looking unfazed, it had occurred to her many times that other creatures could get in, she had never remembered it being a problem before.  
  
The man looked back to Nabooru, now having to break the scared silence. He let his arms hang through the tiny bar spaces and said in a concerning tone, "well I don't really have any idea why you would need to be punished, but I am sorry that you were sentenced to this dungeon. I'm sure whatever you did didn't deserve this". Nabooru nodded, "You're right" she said, "what I did to my king should have led to a much worse punishment". The man now gasped in slight shock, "Are you really that bad a person? To be a criminal to criminals?" Shrugging Nabooru turned her head fully towards him, looking him directly in the eyes, "what I did was not of criminal intention, but it hurt the king so much, it seems to have become that". It was then, looking Nabooru directly in the eyes that the man realized who she was.  
  
"I've seen you before" the man said, "I saw you at your king's right side, you are the gerudo general!" Nabooru smiled, "why of course I am, and only someone as high up as I was could get sent so low so quickly". "I see" the man said, "what did you do?" Nabooru debated whether to tell him for a minute before lifting her head to look him in the eyes again, "I committed the highest form of treason possible. When my king took a different path, a darker one we shall say, I rebelled and immediately lost him support that could have led to him holding all of Hyrule". The man gasped, now he was only acting. He had guessed long before at whom Ganondorf's depriver of power was, it was almost music to his ears to know it was Nabooru, the woman the Assassins hated.  
  
"So, you are Nabooru, the general of the gerudos, the one sneaky enough to foil a dark kings plans", the man grinned. Nabooru couldn't help noticing how even in the poor light the man's grin was more handsome then evil, a smile that was extremely charming. "Nabooru I am so honored to make your acquaintance" the man said, "my name is Jason Marx the second, and out of my entire stay here I must admit meeting you down here has to be the best part. Nabooru smiled girlishly, "I'm glad you feel that way".  
  
It did not take long for the Jason to start on his story of how he gotten to the gerudo fortress. He had started in a borderland country and after the assassins attacked his town, he had lost all of his friends and family. After being the only one left he was forced to run, and had almost an entire troop trailing him through the towns. He took refuge in the desert and walked as far out as he could. Finally when he could go no more he tried to go back and found himself lost. After marching for days the gerudo desert patrol picked him up and charged him with trespassing. The details of the story Nabooru wasn't quite too sure of, so she didn't inquire. But as the man was so charming in the majority of his ways, it was her natural instinct to playfully chat with him.  
  
When it seemed the late evening, Nabooru was still strung up and Jason behind bars. Not expecting any visitors, Nabooru nearly jumped when she heard the stairway door open and footsteps descending the ladder. Jason who had been talking amiably shrunk to the back of his dark cell as the person reached the bottom. A boot clicked along the floor and Nabooru could feel her heart pounding, it was Ganondorf.  
  
Ganondorf slowly walked to the center of the room where Nabooru stood, still attached by her bindings, she had no signs of attempted escape. Ganondorf looked her up and down, "are you tired after standing all day?" he asked slyly. Nabooru gulped, "well...I" she was cut off as he slapped her. Nabooru turned her face back towards him, "yes" she replied. "Much better" Ganondorf said circling her post, "I would have thought you would tried to escape by now, but then you surprise me a lot now don't you". Nabooru closed her eyes and tried not to gasp for air, "I am sorry" she said still choked. Ganondorf stopped back at the front of her, "oh and she still apologizes, I'm sorry its so hard to forgive someone who might turn her back and rebel at any moment" he snarled. "You know I wouldn't...Ganondorf" she said with barely a whisper. Ganondorf put a finger to her lips, "and you expect me to take your word now?" Almost to tears Nabooru opened her eyes, "I would never hurt you directly". Ganondorf continued to snarl, "and how am I supposed to believe that" he said leaning in close up against her, his intense eyes burning into hers. Nabooru looked at him, a single tear fell down her cheek as she tried to choke out the words she was thinking, but something completely different came out. "I" she whispered, "I...I...love you". Ganondorf's eyes widened, he wasn't expecting that from her. His snarl faded and he stepped back, he turned on his heels and started the long walk back to the stairs.  
  
Nabooru sighed as Jason came to the front of the bars, he watched Ganondorf retreat back to the stairs before he looked to her with nearly bulging eyes. "Nabooru, I'm so sorry, but I think we must go now". "Go" Nabooru said puzzled, "how and...why?" Jason looked to his right now the corridor to the outside, "we aren't alone".  
  
Nabooru looked to where he pointed, her eyes flashed, as she comprehended what he meant, there was a beast from the outside stealthily coming towards them, and it looked hungry. Jason's worried eyes flew frantically back to the beast before pointing to the cage door, "how do I get out" he mouthed to Nabooru. She tilted her head from the lock, to the top of the wall. He looked to where she had indicated and was pleasantly surprised to see the top of his cage completely open. He put a foot on the lock and jumped trying to reach the top of the bars.  
  
His hand slipped and he quickly grabbed at the dark to pull himself up and over. Sitting on top of the structure he looked down the hall to the beast to realize that where its eyes should have been were two swollen sockets, it was blind. But that didn't matter as the creature's humongous ears twitched at even the slightest jingle.  
  
Jason threw himself over the fence and softly landed on the other side. His cloak billowed about to rest on the back of his neck as he walked to Nabooru. He looked at her questioningly for a moment as his eyes flew from the ropes tied to her wrists and ankles. Nabooru smiled at him and easily pulled her wrists out to reveal the rope still tied in the position around her wrists. Jason shook his head a little surprised that the great gerudo king had not noticed this then watched as Nabooru quickly reached down and unwound the rope binding her feet. She now stood free to move and she quickly instructed Jason to move towards a wooden beam that shot towards the ceiling.  
  
As Jason crept to the side Nabooru turned and was met with a shocking sight, the beast had no longer continued along its creeping path and had now switched to hiding. She turned a bit in fear before trying to get Jason's attention. With his back to her he didn't notice and Jason continued to the post. Nabooru shrugged and walked towards him, making sure her every movement was silenced. Jason turned and looked around him as Nabooru stood gaping at the sight directly in front of him. The beast pushed out from behind some crates and walked directly in front of Jason. It sniffed him, every breath a "huff" "puff" and then opened its ears making it seem much larger. The black furred creature crouched as Jason stood obliviously in front of it.  
  
Jason turned to see the beast's large features standing right behind him. He opened his mouth to yell as Nabooru leaped and covered his mouth with her arm. She loosely hung there, wrapped around his back as the two watched the beast.  
  
For a second, everything was silent, then the beast reared up in front of Jason and jumped, springing a ton of muscle and desert toughened fur at him. Nabooru yelled something that sounded like "get down!" and that was exactly what Jason did, suddenly being forced to his belly. The beast landed on the other side of him and tuned grabbing at the ground with its mouth. Nabooru rolled out of the way while Jason crawled towards the post. He jumped to his feet and ran not caring about the noise. The beast chased him, smashing some boxes and nearly taking out a metal beam falling from the ceiling. Nabooru placed her back to a post and stayed silent as Jason ran at a wall. He ducked and sent the beast sprawling into the wall, chopping and growling like crazy. Jason backed up, grabbing at a crate for comfort as the beast smashed its head in confusion into the wall. The beast turned around, angry again, and was met by silence.  
  
It tilted its head from side to side as it suddenly heard the soft clicking's of a boot. Nabooru closed her eyes and almost wanted to cry as Ganondorf entered the hall a second time.  
  
Ganondorf looked about himself in confusion, it was unusually dark and quiet. Nabooru raised her eyes, she tried to catch his glance. Looking about Ganondorf at first could not see anything, then he spotted Jason grasping a crate and Nabooru backed against a pole. He looked at them in confusion for a moment before the beast lunged from his left.  
  
With Ganondorf to take care of the beast Jason saw it as his golden opportunity to escape and immediately began running down the corridor. Nabooru started to follow then looked wistfully at her king making her stop. Jason grabbed her arm and pulled her along, away from the beast towards the desert. Nabooru allowed him for a moment before sharply yanking his arm and pointing in the opposite direction. "No that way" she said in a commanding voice, then added, "its safer in the fortress".  
  
Nabooru sprinted across as Jason tried his hardest to follow her speedy trail. Ganondorf had now pushed back the large beast and was forcing apart its two massive jaws, keeping it from clamping down on a misplaced part of his arm. Nabooru kept herself from looking at him as she charged up the steps, not noticing Ganondorf's betraying glance he shot at her. Jason followed at her heels and said nothing, he continued to pant as they burst from the trap door and reached the hallway.  
  
A few gerudos stood around outside, including a handful of higher ranking guards and Ruby. Staring at the two in confusion the guards stood by way to stunned to react. Nabooru recovered first and pointed at the nearest guard, "you" she bellowed in between breathes, "weapon, now". The guard complied and lightly tossed her small sword at Nabooru. Nabooru grabbed one of Jason's hands then nearly galloped back down the stairs with him following. "Shouldn't we be leaving instead of going back???" he asked feeling extremely worried. Nabooru just growled, "I am not leaving Ganondorf down there alone".  
  
Jason was befuddled, how after all the abuse Ganondorf gave her Nabooru eagerly ran back down to help him. He shook his head of all his puzzled thoughts and followed her to the large dark desert beast.  
  
Ganondorf kicked at its head, trying to find a moment to grasp for his sword as it attacked again. It did not help that he had been completely unprepared, with about as much armor as he had against the statues and no time to formulate a dark magic attack. The beast shot out at him again as he punched it, giving him a second to breathe as it retreated then pounced again. The beast ripped open its mouth, snagging Ganondorf's arm, making two deep cuts. Ganondorf kicked it this time, sending it backwards with its jaw confusedly clamped shut.  
  
Nabooru charged down the bottom of the steps and slid along the floor to Ganondorf's side. He looked down to her then grabbed the small sword and this time sliced at the beast with it. He came down hard on its face, slashing it and forcing it to crawl away in momentary defeat. Ganondorf grabbed Nabooru's arm and slowly backed towards the stairs. Jason started to climb them as the king of the gerudos slowly walked towards him. As soon as Ganondorf and Nabooru had reached the stairwell, the three of them started up the steps, leaving the beast clueless and alone in the dark dungeon.  
  
Jason once again burst out of the trap door and was subject to stares. Ganondorf came out looking far more regal with Nabooru grasped firmly by the arm. He reached the top and looked to the guards. "Make sure this door stays locked" he said to a guard, then he indicated at Jason, "and do something with him". After his small speech Ganondorf took the bewildered Nabooru back down a hall and disappeared with her from the guard's vision.

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Okay this note is kinda important. From here, this story can get really sad or have a happy ending. So far I might go either way. Reviews would help here...I need suggestions.... But whatever, I dont really care what u do!


	13. Gone again

okay, I'm updating.... Just so you know, I don't own Zelda, and I do plan on reviewing my other chapters. Thats all, here is le story!

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Ganondorf dragged Nabooru to his chambers, he quickly threw her into the room and locked the door. He walked towards her angrily as she started to cower, something she hadn't done in a long time. He reached her and grabbed the back of her ponytail. He yanked her head up and forced her to look at him. He wanted to growl, or snarl, but as he looked at the scared face of Nabooru, he could do neither. Ganondorf let his features soften as he let go of her hair and left her standing there in front of him with no restrictions.

She left her gaze fall to the floor as she walked to a nearby couch and sat down. Ganondorf followed her and sat down beside her, making the atmosphere extremely uncomfortable. Nabooru leaned and put her head on her hands, a tear fell down her cheek as she whispered, "I'm sorry".

Putting an arm around her back Ganondorf pulled Nabooru into his embrace and kissed the top of her head. She was looking ridiculously pitiful and he was still mad at her, but it seemed so hard to yell at her, after all he did still care about her. "So" he said resting his chin on her head, "why don't we talk, I am guessing you would like to be able to explain".

"I would like that" Nabooru said, "but it would be much easier if you decided if you were mad at me or not". Ganondorf shrugged, "Naby, I am furious with you, and at the moment I don't know how I will ever be able to forgive you". Nabooru looked to the floor, "I know I have wronged you, but everyone can forgive". Lifting his head Ganondorf let go of her, "Even if right now I wanted to, why would I forgive the woman who rebelled against me and lost me the support of my own race when I needed them the most, why would I forgive you when you made me lose so much?" Nabooru let out in barely a whisper, "because I forgave you". "What was that", Ganondorf said suspiciously. "Because" Nabooru said in a louder voice looking up, "I forgave you". Ganondorf once again let out a small snarl as he roughly grabbed Nabooru's chin and forced her to look him in the eyes, "Forgave me for what? What have I ever done to you? Nothing! I give you a high position in society, let you share My decisions, My power..."

Doing something she had never done to her king before, Nabooru cut him off in mid-sentence and slapped him. "What have you done to me? Nothing, of course you did nothing to me personally. I'm talking about what you did to an entire race of people depending on you for guidance, I'm talking about how you abused a power, about how you yourself disconnected the ties between people and king!" Nabooru stood up from the couch and backed away seeing as Ganondorf was now again glaring, "You made a decision the rest of the council didn't agree on, no one else wanted you to invade Hyrule single handedly, and no one else surely would have suspected you to have done such dirty dealings as to have messed with dark magic". Ganondorf was now standing and slowly walking towards her in a fixed step. "Yes I took away your power, and without us you simply left and made another army". Ganondorf reached her and once again stood there towering over her, this time Nabooru didn't run. Neither spoke and for a moment it was absolutely silent. "Anything else?" Ganondorf asked, Nabooru tried to look away, she could see his eyes flaming. "Good" he said when she didn't respond, he lifted his left hand and she slightly cowered.

"Look at you, the person I once thought my most loyal friend and advisor, standing there spewing the words of a traitor". His arm came down hard.

Nabooru reached up and blocked the blow catching it with her right hand and just barely avoiding being knocked to the floor. Stunned, Ganondorf stopped moving for a moment as he stared at her in bewilderment. Nabooru reacted much quicker and pulled both of his arms down and held them there for a moment. "Ganondorf" she said, "I admire you as a king, your political and military sense are far above all other monarchs that I have seen in Hyrule. But sometimes, I find myself questioning your sense of right and wrong". Ganondorf struggled and easily freed his hands as Nabooru took a step back. "I would never want to lose you like we did" she finished, "But in this case you were entirely wrong. And when you came back obviously you didn't realize I had to forgive you for such horrible atrocities." Ganondorf simply stood there as Nabooru backed towards the exit. "Maybe, I shouldn't have".

At this Ganondorf's eyes flared, the shock of this statement hit him harder then all of her previous actions. He looked at her with his eyebrows narrowed for a moment, almost like that of a wounded puppy, then he regained his posture and snarled. Nabooru's hardened expression softened for a moment in regret, then she quickly left Ganondorf's chambers.

The entire gerudo fortress sat in wait. Two guards waited at the entrance to the king's chambers. But they were not guarding. All of the residents walked slowly with quirky glances. After Nabooru had burst from Ganondorf's chambers, the two leaders hadn't been seen for two days. A single click was heard from the stop of a staircase. Slowly, the king made his way down. He eyes were unfocused as he passed by the staring surrounding guards. He painfully tossed his cape as he made his way out of the fortress. The guards exchanged glances, it was obvious that one fort was not big enough for two leaders. 

Ganondorf strutted down the hallways, he turned multiple corners and burst into the throne room like a bat out of a cave. Isle who had been awaiting one of the leaders, turned abruptly and watched him with worried eyes. He turned to her and said in a small voice, "Make sure everything gets done..." She nodded and watched as he continued through the throne room. The last person to see Ganondorf was the guard waiting by the entrance to the river bridge. She watched him briskly trot by on a tan horse and slowly offered a small salute.

Far away from the fortress in a hidden fort, a band of very dangerous thieves talked amongst themselves. The entire room continued to groan with laughter and chatter until a sudden crash was heard. Two thieves dropped wine glasses as the group looked towards the entrance. Clicking his boots as he walked, Ganondorf entered the cave.

U like? Personally, I did not like this chapter. So I'm gonna post another one!


	14. Revealed

Another chapter...

Nabooru smiled as she walked down the hall with Ruby. It was impossible to stay sullen when a very jolly gerudo was relating her experience with stealing milk. Nabooru almost giggled as she bumped into Taint, who seemed in a very good mood herself. The three were quite merry when they entered the throne room and all congregated around the throne. A gerudo entered from the other end to relate her problem as Isle stood sullenly in a corner. Taint and Ruby walked up to the girl and were discussing some vivid problem as Nabooru suddenly looked around puzzled. She walked over to Isle and tried to place her question. "Where did....he go?" she asked painfully as Isle lifted her head up from the position of servitude. "I don't think he will be back for a while" Isle replied. Nabooru absorbed the news as she nodded her head. She turned away from Isle to walk back to the throne. Nabooru watched Taint and Ruby continue their conversation as she looked up to the throne. And then, Nabooru slowly slipped into the comfortable chair as she clapped her hands for attention. "So" she said, "Let's commence".

Nabooru's gaze remained unfazed as numerous gerudos approached her with their reports. It seemed as though she were calm, but every time someone gazed into her eyes there remained a glimmer of something that no one could quite comprehend. Nabooru seemed peaceful, but it was obvious at the end of that day that something was wrong. Everyone could feel that someone was missing.

Perched on a flat rooftop, a chilly wind ruffled Isle's bright red hair. Soft footsteps behind her made Isle turn to see Nabooru approaching from behind her. Nabooru sat down along side Isle as the two looked over the fortress together. Isle took one last look around before murmuring, "Everyone can tell he is gone Nabooru." Nabooru nodded in response as she looked to see two young gerudos playing a game along the lower dusty streets. "But what everyone can not say, Nabooru, is where is has gone to". Nabooru continued to watch the two young gerudos, they continued their game until suddenly, a group of the younger gerudos walked out of a nearby building. "Nabooru, I need to ask you something" Isle said turning her gaze to face Nabooru's blank expression. The older of the two playing gerudos stopped giggling with the younger, she turned to see the group approaching. Isle started talking slower, "Do you..." The older gerudo pushed the younger to the ground as she got up and walked towards the group. Nabooru didn't even wait for Isle to finish the question, "Don't ask me where Ganondorf is, Isle" she said sounding rushed, "you and I both know where he is, in fact I'm sure the entire fortress knows exactly where he is". Isle looked down as she closed her eyes. Nabooru didn't respond after that.

The next day Nabooru walked around doing her duties as she normally did. She easily controlled the gerudo fortress and no one questioned her immediate regaining of power. As the day entered the early afternoon, it started to seem almost normal again. That was until a ragged looking messenger from the outside was thrown into the throne room. Slipping easily into the throne, Nabooru looked at the messenger questioningly. "I" he said while swallowing, "have come with news from Hyrule". The guards at post by the throne rolled their eyes as he continued. "We have received word from the border lands of an apparent rise to power...The rapidly growing band of thieves are threatening attack". Nabooru flicked her wrist in disinterest, "If they are planning on attacking, then why weren't we sent a threat letter as well". "Well" the guard said shakily still being surrounded by multiple gerudo guards, "That is what I am here for. The king and his counsel as well as the sages believe it has something to do with you gerudos. Mainly Ganondorf". Nabooru frowned, "preposterous, we have nothing to do with it. If you are suggesting that we are planning an attack on Hyrule then you are extremely mistaken, we do not currently partake in any of our king's doings." The messenger shook his head vigorously as the guards began to approach him, "Err um, the sages are calling a meeting" he said worriedly. Nabooru rolled her eyes a him as two guards both grabbed his arms. "Finished" one said in a harsh tone. Without waiting for a reply, they threw him out.

Approaching Nabooru from the side, Renova placed her hand softly on the throne's armrest. "Nabooru" she said softly, "I know you seem to have had enough bad news already, but the prisoner is requesting you speak to him". Shrugging, Nabooru stepped off of the throne and followed Renova down the hall. Sure enough, the prisoner waited inside a small holding room looking extremely down. "Yes" she said entering the room and closing the door. "Well" he said slowly, "I guess first I should thank you, this prison is far nicer than the previous dungeon, and it doesn't feel even half as cold and lonely". Nabooru's face remained straight and stern as he continued. "What I would like you to beseech me still, is a possible release completely from captivity". Nabooru's eyes flickered to life as she smiled slyly, "oh really" she said, "but that would ruin my reputation as a gerudo now wouldn't it". The man gritted his teeth in frustration, "I would really appreciate it if you did though". Nabooru smiled, "sorry, but at the same time I probably won't see you the next time I come in here as it is". He looked at her confused for a moment as she tossed her head towards the nearby window and made her exit. It was then that he realized that his cell was the same one Link had previously been in.

Standing at the entrance to the gerudo fortress bridge the waiting guard sighed, it wasn't her turn anymore to keep watch and yet her replacement was late again. She gritted her teeth as the sun slowly went down. She looked up to the sky in frustration before stomping her foot and walking off, not caring that she was committing a high crime. Dashing from around a stone corner, Jason appeared tired and breathing heavily. He took a running start and made it over the bridge. Finally he thought to himself as he walked across safely on the other side, "I'm free".

Entering the palace gates, Jason was not surprised to receive a rough welcome. The guards treated him with much disrespect. He stood at the gates and watched, "I um, would like some help with something" he said as the guard at the gate looked him over. "Well I'm sorry sir, but the royal family will not be bothered right now with the business of any ruffians". Jason's eyes showed no signs of giving up "I realize I look a little well traveled right now but that still does not change my status to that of a ruffian". The guard laughed a haughty laugh as Jason gritted his teeth. "If knew who I was or what I had been through then you would let me in right now." "Well sir, if your appearance has anything to say about you, I would definitely continue your title of "ruffian"". Around the guard and Jason at the palace gates was a small crowd of villagers who were yelling at the other guard on duty. An especially rude one pushed past Jason to grab a hold of the guard and yell at the guard's face.

Jason closed his eyes for a second in frustration before pushing past the rude girl. "Excuse me SIR" he said in annoyance, "But I am Jason Marx the second, the last remaining heir to the Hyrule's border land country of Forresiten and if you will so kindly move I would like to speak with your council". The guard laughed as he spoke, "Oh a prince! Why you are by far the dirtiest prince I've ever met! Forresiten you say? I would be surprised if you had ever even taken a step in that land". Jason reached his arm to his chest where he reached inside his torn shirt. Pulling out a chain, he let it slip onto his hand to reveal a charm. The guard looked down at it then pulled away in shock, it was the Forresiten castle's family crest.

Jason was led into the castle where he immediately took a bath. Cleaned and offered new clothing, he was finally able to talk to Hyrule's king. As he entered the throne room wearing his borrowed clothing he was quite surprised to find the far obese king sagging on the chair with his beautiful daughter waiting on guard on a throne next to him. Off to the side stood a young man with a fairy on his shoulder and a jewel encrusted sword attached to his belt. Jason didn't even have to guess who it was, Link.

Jason neared the throne in a bow before kissing the princess's hand, "hello Zelda" he said as she softly blushed before he reached forward and shook hands with the king. "I see we are now on formal grounds" he smiled, "So if you will please, I would like to explain my story". The king nodded as Zelda spoke for him, "I see you have already had a brush with the Assassins, and the gerudos, we would love to hear your story. As I know my father wishes to, may we please be entertained over dinner?" Jason nodded as he looked to Link, "that would be lovely". Link was not thinking kind thoughts as he looked at the handsome man standing near the throne, Jason was obviously a strong fighter and a charmer, competition for Zelda but at the same time a powerful ally. Link knew he needed Jason as a friend, and a friend who didn't know Zelda.  
  
Back at the gerudo fortress, Nabooru didn't even glance up as Ruby entered the room. "Has he left yet" she asked as Ruby opened her mouth. "Yes" Ruby replied, "but you don't seem so surprised by that". As the two exchanged laughing glances Isle burst into the room looking quite flustered. "Nabooru!" she said, "the assassins, we have just received word...they have an army". Nabooru stood up, "is he...". Isle nodded, "He has joined one of the top positions of their army..." Nabooru's eyes glazed over and for a long moment she did not speak. "I guess we should call a meeting then". Ruby tapped on Isle's shoulder as the two left the room. Finally alone in her chambers, Nabooru threw herself on her bed and nearly cried in frustration.

The council didn't say much as they gathered themselves in the long hall. Ruby tossed out her map accurately marked with the locations her scouts had found the assassins to be in. Lyiamere and Cere worked as the usual team they put together and started pointing and discussing the locations. Taint and Semalie were talking amongst themselves as well with occasional glances at the map. Ruby, Renova, and Isle were also grouped up and pointing at the map every once in a while. This organized chaos continued for a few minutes before Isle looked to Nabooru and held up her hand to stop everybody from talking. Nabooru's head was in her hands as she looked at the map with red eyes. "This is so stressful", she said in barely a whisper. The entire room went silent. "Why did he do this to me again", her head fell down onto her neatly folded arms as she collapsed against the table.

Isle put a hand on Nabooru's back, she tried to think of words of comfort but none came. When Nabooru's head rose the table was still unnaturally quiet, "Doesn't he know this is why we abandoned him the first time? Is he this crazy, to not care?" her eyes grew red, "Ruby, is it possible for us to simply monitor their armies without fighting?" Ruby looked to the map and nodded, "Well, I'm sure that we could". Nabooru looked from the map to every one of her council's faces, "We will avoid this war as much as possible, I don't want to bring any other gerudos into this. If I need to betray him again I will. But for now, we will stay out of this". The seven members of the council nodded as Isle's face fell, "Nabooru, if you do need to fight him, I will go with you". Ruby looked to Nabooru as well, "I agree with you on this decision, obviously our king isn't our best leader". Lyiamere and Semalie chimed in, "we support you as well". Cere and Taint also smiled their reply. As Renova finally lifted her head, "We will not fight, I'll get a defense army". Nabooru knew how poor her decision was. It was then that she realized just how much her people supported her.

As the eight gerudos left the room, Nabooru was walking the slowest. The entire council knew how worked up Nabooru was about this, and for once, she faced no opposition.  
  
Ganondorf sat a top a tall brown horse surveying the rows of young men and women before him. The current leader of the assassins was a Tall dark woman who looked at her troops with a picky eye, looking for any sign of weaknesses. Her second in command stood beside her, watching the troops as well. Ganondorf had been shocked at the true power this group held, they could exterminate a city in two weeks, a small town in two days. They moved swiftly and left nothing for their victims. They were the perfect army for taking over Hyrule and Ganondorf could not admit to not liking that. Every time the leader suggested a move the entire army moved and left no one behind. It was very hard not to be impressed.

As the leader, Rouge was her name, called for a move the entire army rippled to a straight standing position. Ganondorf watched as the army took an entire step forward together and began to move through the woods. Rouge turned her horse to face Ganondorf, "impressive aren't they" she said with a grin as she clicked his jittery horse to move in front of the troops. Ganondorf turned the horse he was on to follow as the blue haired second in command rushed by him. "I knew you would come" she said with a grin, "It seems like the Goddesses do want us to win". As she clicked on by him Ganondorf just frowned, seeing her reminded him with a little sadness of the fiery second in command of his own he had left back at the fortress. Ganondorf followed the leader in front of the massive troops as he contemplated everything that had happened to him, Ganondorf didn't know if he could ever forgive her, or get forgiveness now as well.

The troops made good progress, by midnight an entire 23 troops of well-trained men had been stationed around the outskirts of Hyrule. The forest borders at the left edge of the Hyrulean cliffs held most of the troops, and the majority of the cliff was covered. The armies had been set up far from the gerudo boundaries and Lake Hylia was left surrounded but untouched. The Assassins weren't so worried about anything getting through the desert as much as they were something getting through the Lake. As Ganondorf stood at the top of a hill, he watched as the lines of troops fell in to small tents pitched in neat rows. The assassins could be ruthless and barbaric in their attack methods, but it was obvious the had certain sophistication in the style they had taught their warriors to go about their business. As Ganondorf crawled into a large tent to sleep that night, his mind was full of various feelings.

In one of the Hyrule Palace's many courtyards, Jason and Link walked side by side. It had started out as a simple conversation about their sword fighting experience and ended up as an entire discussion on everything that had been happening. At Jason's advice Zelda had ordered the stationing of small troops throughout Hyrule. They had already begun to build up an army and it seemed as though they were prepared for whatever was to come. Link smiled as the two suddenly brought up the topic of Zelda. Link's eyes looked dreamy, "I have never loved somebody as much as I have Zelda," he said staring at a nearby fountain, "she is so...gorgeous". Jason nodded, "When I first saw Zelda I could have sworn I was looking at an angel". Link's eyes darted to Jason as Jason quickly covered himself, "You are a very lucky man Link". Link sighed and smiled as he walked over to a bench that shone with the moonlight.

"Do you have anybody special waiting for you Jason?" Link asked as he stared ahead at the fountain. Jason shook his head, "No..." Link nodded as Jason shrugged, "But there is one girl that I have found myself fascinated with". Looking fairly interested Link nodded "oh?" "Yes" replied Jason, "a gerudo...and though she might be a thief, she seems to be so kind...I can't stop thinking about her". Link didn't respond for a moment as Jason continued, "Her eyes, her voice, she just seems to be so different from all of them". Link looked up, "Nabooru?" he asked as Jason nodded. Link looked back down, "Nabooru is a thief, she loves life, definitely, and she can be a loyal friend but..." Jason looked to him confused, "but what?" he asked. Link just shrugged again, "just remember, Nabooru is a gerudo". Jason nodded at the remark but internally he ignored Link completely. To him, Nabooru was not the type of person that would lie, cheat, and steal, it just didn't seem like the person he had seen back at the fortress.

Zelda daintily stepped out into the courtyard, "Link? Jason?" she called tentatively before smiling and walking over to their bench. Zelda slipped along to Link's side and received a small peck on her forehead before smiling at Jason. "How are you this lovely night" she asked as Link wrapped his arm around hers. "I'm fine" Jason replied with a smile, "and you?" "I'm feeling great" she said leaning against Link, "Just the day was so stressful". Link sighed, "All the work it takes to set up a few troops is amazing.

Oh, by the way, do I need to be present at the sages meeting tomorrow?" Zelda nodded, "That is stressful too, all of the sages are going to be angry about this, he seemed so behaved last time, I have no idea what happened to him". Jason looked to his side, he didn't like Ganondorf very much anymore. Zelda shivered a moment then began to pull Link towards the entrance, "Its getting a bit nippy outside, can we continued this conversation somewhere warmer perhaps?" The two men nodded as the three headed for the castle.


	15. The first battle

This would be my lovely update. It is a very beautiful thing. Enjoy sounds good right now so Enjoy!

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Saria made her way down the side of a small pony as she patiently waited for the town's gates to open. Floating in the water nearby was Ruto who swam along the channel to climb out where Saria stood. The two entered together and easily slipped through the morning merriment. Impa arrived on a white horse looking tall and regal, she slipped down as well. Last to arrive to the castle was Nabooru. Galloping along on a pure black stallion. Impa turned from her white horse to see the approaching gerudo and she found herself stunned. The two exchanged waves as Nabooru dived into the moat and came out with her black cloak. As they walked into the market place together Impa couldn't help wondering, was Nabooru riding Ganondorf's horse?  
  
Slipping into the crowd as she normally did, Nabooru made her way to the Temple of Time and dropped her dark cloak in the nearby bushes. Inside, Rauru was doing his usual buiness, sitting on his butt in his special chair at the table. Nabooru took her place and folded her arms on the table. She felt quite ready to face the barrage of insults that she knew would shortly happen. Looking around the table, she found Darunia asleep, Ruto awake with eyes as wide as saucers, and Zelda looking towards the ceiling obviously lost in thought.  
Rauru clapped his large hands together and in an instant all of the sages snapped to attention. "So" he said sounding quite formal, "we are here today to discuss..." Ruto cut him off, "The assassins, it's the assassins right?" Zelda placed a hand on Ruto's back, "You okay honey?" she asked worriedly as the rest of the sages looked to her expectantly. Ruto shook her head, "I saw their troops" she said, "they were everywhere. I don't know what exactly they were trying to do but they surrounded the lake and some attacked our scouts". Saria nodded, "on my way over I had to hide behind bushes, they were at least 10 soldiers hiding in the cliffs above". Impa frowned as she folded her arms, obviously not happy with the information. Zelda sighed, "it seems things are worse then we had expected. We will send men to the lake and to the cliffs, I'm sure the Kokkiri will be safe in the forest, but the Zoras..." Rauru nodded, "I will try my best to help in any way I can and if at all possible, will activate the triforce". The Sages quickly started up, suggesting ways they would help and muttering to themselves.  
Zelda looked to Nabooru and coughed making the room become silent again. "Nabooru" she said sounding quite regal, "Your armies better not be planning on joining this group about to attack us". Nabooru turned her head to the side as Zelda continued almost sarcastically, "I know that you have been stressed a lot about issues lately, but that leaves you no reason to run off and join their forces. All though your people are separate from the rest of Hyrule, it also leaves no room to run off and consider yourselves enemies of us in our time of need". Nabooru did not stir. "Nabooru, as a friend and a sage I am hoping you plan on helping us". At this, Nabooru turned back to her former position.  
  
She looked Zelda directly in the eye, "Well, well, well, insulting me and then requesting my help. Sorry to inform you, but because of the tremendous issues I seem to be having at the fortress I will not be joining in this war".  
  
Ruto's mouth dropped open as she butted in, "Really? You can't be serious! With Ganondorf back in power I could have almost sworn you guys would practically jump for joy with the chance of war". Nabooru turned to face Ruto, "Ganondorf is no longer with us" she replied before standing up from the table and walking out the door. By now Zelda felt ready to slap Ruto, she had obviously been ill-informed and they could see it was killing Nabooru. The remaining sages looked to each other without speaking. "I guess...the meeting is over" Zelda said softly shaking her head and looking to the table. It didn't take words to tell why as Nabooru slowly slipped out of the temple.  
Standing from the table, Impa started to walk towards the door and Saria jumped to follow. Ruto left at a slow pace as well but Darunia remained at the table. Hopping to her feet, Zelda took a dash to the door. As Zelda dashed by Saria looked to Impa with innocent eyes. "Impa" she said wearily, "Why would Ganondorf go with the Assassins after all?" Impa frowned in reply, "What goes on in the mind of Ganondorf escapes even me". Saria shrugged her small green shoulders, I hope Zelda doesn't feel responsible for this" she said almost sadly. Impa held open the door as the two walked on.  
Zelda reached the outsides of the gates to find Nabooru mounting a black horse, her cloak already cast off. "I'm sorry about that" she said as Nabooru gathered her reins. Nabooru looked to her with flaming eyes, "You, sorry? Didn't think the princess was capable of apologizing. You know, I have just been insulted, begged, and then reminded of something that I am trying to forget, for some reason sorry seems a little light as a goodbye". Nabooru seemed ready to yell at the princess standing there, "Ganondorf is no longer my problem, if I have to I'll help but for now, I don't feel like involving myself in a war that is not mine". Zelda nodded her head and looked up to see Nabooru jerking the reins to the side. Nabooru took one last glance at Zelda before she galloped off. Zelda's eyes watered in regret, she stepped across the bridge to enter the busied marketplace.  
As Nabooru clicked her horse across the bridge, she found groups of young gerudo fighters practicing with long swords. Girls scrambled to find open spaces to practice as a current captain of the forces made her way to the bridge. The Captain bowed her head in respect before indicating towards the girls, "They have been practicing very hard" she said. "Things have gotten so dramatic that everyone wants to be involved". Nabooru nodded as she slid off of the horse, "I'm going to the stables now" Nabooru said trying to speak over the surrounding noise, "Could you please inform my council that I have returned?" The gerudo nodded and ran off through the girls still practicing. Nabooru made her way with the horse through the crowds and into the stables. As it neared its stable the horse started to fidget and Nabooru found herself tugging it into the small corral. In a way, Ganondorf's horse acted just like Ganondorf, stubborn and not used to being confined. Nabooru left the stables and walked back into the fortress to find Isle waiting in the throne room. Isle offered a weak smile as Nabooru approached her. "Was is okay?" she asked her leader. Nabooru shrugged, "Better then some, worse then others". Isle nodded, "guess that's good". Nabooru smiled and softly saluted her second, "Carry on Soldier" she joked though even that sounded choked.  
Isle nodded and Nabooru once again turned to go continue on her business. As she swished down a dark hallway a guard softly bowed her head, "General" she said respectfully turning to watch Nabooru continue down the hallway. Nabooru turned past a large lounging chamber to find six more gerudo guards jump up as she passed. The six bowed in respect while standing. Similar displays of loyalty and affection rippled down the hall as Nabooru passed. She was their hope, they adored her and would follow her anywhere. Ganondorf as a leader had gained the loyalty of the gerudos once, but even he knew that he could not aspire to the level of trust they had with Nabooru. This is the factor that led to Ganondorf's downfall, something extremely unavoidable.  
  
Ganondorf stood by Rouge as the two watched a tall man on a dark brown horse approach them. The man descended and nodded to them, he had a tall frame and was obviously far older than Rouge. "Cochon" Rouge called, "I'm glad you have finally made it". Ganondorf snorted and looked down to keep from giggling. Cochon nodded in reply to Rouge with his eyes closed. He opened them to blink at from Ganondorf then back to Rouge. "This must be Ganondorf" he said, then to Ganondorf, "I have heard much about you". He stuck out his hand and Ganondorf shook it respectively. "Cochon will be a third force to the army being built" Rouge said to introduce the tall man in front of them, Ganondorf kept his tall composure and once again had to resist a giggle. Rouge gave him an icy glare before Cochon replied in his smooth voice, "I hope I have not kept you waiting long" he said kissing Rouge's hand. Rouge smiled, "Not at all, shall we continue to the camps? The current fortress is just a few minutes from them". "We can go now if you like, the few but well trained troops I have will be joining us once we reach there". Rouge flicked her head and began walking towards the Hyrulean borders with Cochon following. Ganondorf frowned to himself, "Whats gotten into me" he muttered as he slipped behind them. The king of the gerudos had just giggled about something as silly as a name, he didn't know if it was his younger age slipping out or just himself losing his mind.  
  
Nabooru stood at the head of a long table, seven pairs of eyes watched her intently as she heavily sighed. "So, if you haven't all yet heard, a third member is joining the leaders of the armies beyond the borders. The scouts sent out have been able to keep us posted on their locations in relation to us, currently it seems there is no conflict. The defense troops have been sent out, they are strategically arranged to draw fighting away from the fortress.". The seven heads nodded as Ruby chimed in, "Our intelligence with the scouts is traveling faster than the posts the Hylain castle gets. I have personally made sure that their locations will deliver only the necessary information." Semalie tilted her head in question, "If the need does come to fight, what will we do if the troops bring the fighting to the fortress?" Isle answered for Nabooru, "If they try that, we cut the bridge and slice through any soldiers that manage to make it across". The group agreed at this as Taint brought up another question, "That sounds good but what happens if one of our scouting parties gets caught?" Nabooru smiled, "don't doubt our scouts, any captures will be on purpose and will be used to our benefit only". The council seemed extremely satisfied with this remark as well. Renova snapped as a smile came to her face, "May we please draw this meeting to a close?" she asked politely. "Yes" the other members replied in unison. Nabooru waved her arm to dismiss the group before she stepped out of the room, the gerudo plan for no involvement had taken off at a very good start.

As the gerudos sat happily around with their scout parties merrily ripping off the planted armies, in Lake Hylia something far more dangerous was happening. Three well armed men snuck around a rocky bend to keep a sharp watch on three zora children. Happily splashing in the water, the three children were completely oblivious. Stationed above the lake, 86 men were positioned behind bushes and trees, awaiting their call to jump into the lake and attack. Cochon's men stayed hidden a few yards behind the troops and had their swords drawn.

Outside of Lake Hylia's gates were the opposite force. A small diversion army of about 10 men waited at the gates ready to get anything that would try to go in or out. Along the cliff's borders were 45 men, they held their arrows drawn as the attack was expected from above. Hidden in a small cove nearer to the feeding river from Gerudo Valley, were another 30 men, half had arrows drawn and aimed at the rocky holes and trees along the cliffs. Every soldier now watched the three zora children, as they waited for their enemy to make its move.

Jason stood with the 30 hid by the river. He searched the cliffs for movement as a soft breeze slowly started up. Link remained with the other nine at the gate, Epona wasn't far away. One of the zoras looked up in his bliss to see something that shocked him. He pointed a finger at the hiding place of the three men. Jason looked exactly to where the men stood and his archer's drawn bows were released. Suddenly, all the men jumped to their feet, with their cover blown, neither side needed to hide. The half of the 86 closer to the rocks jumped up and were immediately attacked by 45 archers and swordsmen. As they fought, the 30 fighters by the river jumped into the lake and started to swim across. The other part of the 86 jogged through the cliffs and were there to join them. Link jumped on Epona and charged into the grass at the side of the lake and within seconds was clashing swords with men along the ground. The other nine galloped in as well and soon were attacking and being attacked.

Link was surrounded by five men who jumped at him at the same time. Flipping his sword to the side, he swung his sword in a wide arc, slashing and taking out them all at the same time. He swung on to the man next to and then moved on to a larger group who were still slipping down the sides of the hills. The thirty reached the shore and came on to the suffering ten who were already showing signs of defeat. Jason took a swing at a soldier before slipping to the side of a fellow fighter. Link cut through as well, but even with the two present there it was obvious that the opposing side was winning. Hyrule's small distraction force was no match for the trained army and the majority of the fighting kept falling to Link and Jason as their comrades fell in battle.

The 45 still attacking above were making headway with the group of men still coming from the cliffs. The 86 were reduced in half as the Hylainians showed major bravery in the cliffs. Link cut through one last soldier and watched as the remaining group on the ground backed off. He looked up to see the group on the cliffs backing away from his soldiers as well. He rested his sword in anticipation as he looked around and asked no one in particular, "Did we win?" Jason kept his eyes glued to the cliffs. "Pick up your sword" he replied as he took on a fighting stance. Link raised his hand and slowly turned his head upwards. Then he saw it.

As his soldiers set down their swords and laughed at the retreating soldiers, Cochon's men swung from above. Within seconds the group of 45 men were cut through like butter. Link lifted his sword and watched them charge down a rocky pass through the cliffs to Lake Hylia. Drawing their swords, the small remnants of the men on the ground looked up in fear. Link had a grave look on his face. He closed his eyes one last long time, then he charged up to the pass determined to meet them. Seeing Link run, Jason soon followed and in a second the two forces were running at each other.

Link reached the others first, he swung and found the fighter he was paired against to be quite and excellent fighter. He back flipped from the force which was still moving and swung again. Link had to flip backwards down the hill in between swings. His hits were extremely inaccurate and he only was able to hit the man he attacked once. At the bottom of the hill he surprised that man and took on an entire swinging hit. A small triumph occurred as he was able to slash five men in front of him across the belly. They doubled over and he was met by the next group. They fought against him just as pressingly and he was slowly pushed back towards the lake. His fighters were trying to fight hard as well and he was very shocked to realize that Cochon's men matched evenly against his. He took one last swing and the next wave of men fell.

10 men started running back up the hill and the forces on the ground pushed even harder against Link's men. Link then realized their plan as he passed the scientists hut and found himself on the border of the lake. Within seconds, one of his comrades was thrown in. The fighter who threw him was going wild and immediately started at Link. Jason swung from behind on that man then found himself pushed from behind – into the lake. Cochon's men started on the two soldiers in the lake and Link's men could only jump out of the way as they were swung at. From the lake, unknown to Cochon's men, were 50 Zoras, all well armed. The soldiers pushed Link's to the very border and started to smile with triumph. It was then that the Zoras hit.

50 fish people leaped from the water and attacked Cochon's men. With the combined force Cochon's men had to retreat. Link was left smiling on the shore, now they had won.

Zelda sat in a large velvet chair as a few royal officials murmured on about the political business in the kingdom. Running in quite expectantly, two messengers bowed and said quite excitedly, "Princess! The forces at Hylia won! And the Zoras are helping us at this very moment!" Zelda smiled at the news, "When are our soldiers getting back?" she asked completely ignoring the officials still trying to talk to her. "Tonight" one of the messengers replied, "And Link and Jason are both still alive". Zelda smiled and sank back into her chair. Everything was going beautifully, well everything except relations with the gerudos, but she didn't have time to worry about that.

The palace of Hyrule celebrated that night and immediately sent out more defending troops in their glory. Not so far away, the leaders at the fortress were having an entirely different problem. Nabooru banged her fist on a table as she nearly yelled at a messenger, "What do you mean they haven't returned! Where are they?" Gerudo officials surrounded the table and tried to calm their leader, "They might have just gotten lost" they replied. "We sent newer scouts, they might not know the forest as well as we thought they did". Nabooru shook her head in frustration as the messenger cringed. "I'm sorry" she said, "they had last reported finding some unusual activity around a forest clearing". Nabooru stood and still shook her head, "No! Why have they done this, haven't we made it obvious we want no involvement?" Isle walked and grabbed Nabooru's wrists, "We've made it very clear" she said trying to comfort her, "This might have been some mistake". Nabooru shook her head, "no..." she turned and walked out of the room still muttering "no..."

A little late, Renova jogged into the room and was met with icy glares. "What did I miss?" she asked slightly cringing at the stares. Isle frowned, "A scout party has been captured. And we keep hearing horrible reports". Renova's eyes dulled, "Oh" she replied. Ruby frowned, "Nabooru thinks this is all her fault for some reason. She is in one of those moods..." Renova pondered this for a moment before she timidly lifted her head, "Will we be joining the war then?" The room stayed silent as Nabooru reappeared around the corner, "If they do not give me my scouts back", she replied, "yes".

The end of this chapter is very near.

The end.


	16. Enemies hideout

I haven't updated in a while, so here u go manda, the next chapter. Oh by the way, this chapter was written a little differently than some of my others. Whatever though, don't forget reviews are appreciated! And again, I don't own Zelda.

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The morning air felt unusually cold against the guards faces. They paced around a well armed but quickly made fort. Inside the many chambers of the fort were the higher officials of the assassins.

Ganondorf sat on the edge of a silk bed as he stared at the ground. No one was bothering him, and he was left to think. For the first time, he wasn't the superior leader. Although he was much wiser in fighting, Rouge and Cochon were in their late forties and over twice his age. The lack of power was very frustrating, but going back to where he would be in complete power was out of the question for him right now. For some reason, he couldn't figure out what he wanted to do with Nabooru.

The guard standing outside looked across the forest clearing. He squinted his eyes at a nearby bush. "Hey" he yelled to the other guard, and then finished to himself, "Did I just see something red?" The second guard on duty called out "what do you see?" He stared again at the bush, and again with the breeze something red flapped up. "What is this?" He started towards the bush and something was screaming though his mind, it was gerudo red. He walked slowly forward and then leaped at the bush. Lying on his belly, he looked up to see a red handkerchief caught on the branch. He laughed as he pulled it off the branch and yelled, "False alarm". This time the second guard didn't respond. The first guard turned around to see his friend lying on the ground. "What...?" he said in a startled matter as something heavy hit him on the ground.

Slipping past the now clear gate, Nabooru jumped on to a supporting wooden beam of the fort and climbed onto the top of the fort's gate. Inside multiple guards paced around but none of them seemed to notice her. No alarm, meant no worries. Nabooru jumped on to the ground and immediately slipped behind some boxes as she mapped out her path from the gate to the fort. She waited until the first guard's back was turned before she jumped up and dashed to a pillar. Within a few seconds, she was at the fort where she slipped down behind the guard and jogged in.

The halls were built in what would be called a plain fashion to the gerudos. The straight main paths ran parallel to each other down through the building. The side hallways however, were scattered about, obviously the sign of the fort being quickly made. Nabooru navigated through the two main hallways and easily slipped by all the opposing guards. But after ten minutes of searching she could not find her goal.

Slipping on to a higher rafter to quickly hide herself, she jumped and held her breath as two guards walked by muttering to each other. "Does it seem like Ganondorf is in a foul mood today to you too?" one asked. "Actually", the second replied, "I couldn't tell what kind of mood he was in. He is in a moody mood I guess..." The second one slurred as he spoke and staggered along next to his friend, Nabooru could have pounced and knocked the two out at once. But as she jumped from the beams she did not, there was no need to obviously, those two were indeed drunk and of no harm.

As Nabooru turned the corner, she saw the small hallway the guards had just came from. It was then that she realized a second prize that lay in this fort. She slipped down the hall and entered the room at the end of the hallway.

Raising his head from the ground, Ganondorf looked up in surprise. He scanned the well decorated room twice before suspiciously coming back to the floor at his bed. Although his eye looked to be stationary on the ground, Ganondorf kept a close watch on his piles of rich ornaments and décor.

Nabooru crouched behind a barrel of jewels. Around her were piles of pillows and silk, obviously the decorations of a king. She peered her eyes around the corner, to look at the large silk bed. Ganondorf sat in the middle. Even though his head was down, Nabooru could feel the heat of his gaze through the back of her head. He lifted his head in one last surveillance and stood up.

Ganondorf slowly clicked his boots over towards Nabooru. The shadow of his tall frame hovered over leaving a dark shadow on the barrels of jewels. He stared at them for a moment, before swiping his hand and knocking them to the floor. Jewels spilled out everywhere and Ganondorf looked down to a surprise. No one was there.

He looked down in confusion again, before a voice spoke up from behind him, "Looking for me?" He spun around to face the defiant figure of Nabooru standing behind him. He looked down, with a grim expression on his face as Nabooru spoke again. "I want my scouts back". Ganondorf's lips curled to a smile, "So demanding aren't we, I don't even get a hello". He stepped forward to bring himself directly in front of her.

Nabooru bit her lip in frustration as she stared up at him. "Hello Ganondorf" a forced smile came out, "Its been a while hasn't it?" Ganondorf raised an eyebrow, "You sound stressed, my dear you work too hard." Nabooru tilted her head, barely being able to keep the large grin, "Well, it seems I have to work hard, because otherwise my people get locked away from me and my king leaves to go sit on his butt and laugh". Ganondorf's expression changed to that of amusement, "Is that how it seems to you? I left the lovely gerudos to come here and...sit on my butt?" "Ganondorf...don't push my mood. Just give me my scouts back". Ganondorf replied calmly, "Nabooru, I don't think I can do that right now. I don't even know where they are being kept". Nabooru winced, "Really?" she asked as all of her former commanding air seemed to drain out of her. Ganondorf nodded as she dropped her head and walked away from him.

Nabooru stopped at the silk bed and collapsed on the side of it as she looked back up to him. "You look a little lost" Ganondorf said looking at her still amused. She sighed, "My scouts are gone...and I don't really want to put all of the girls through fighting". Ganondorf shrugged, "They would fight if you told them to". He walked to her side as she continued to sulk on the bed. "Are you sure you're okay?" he asked staring down at her, "I've never seen you not want to fight before. You normally fight everyone, and win. That's why you are the gerudo general. I'm surprised you didn't jump at this opportunity, I mean it's the perfect chance to get me again isn't it?" Nabooru hunched her shoulders, "Ganondorf, I'm the reason you're here, I don't want to have to fight you because of...that".

Both of them stopped talking for a moment as a large thumping was heard outside, some guards were patrolling by. Nabooru listened as they faded away before turning back up to Ganondorf. "I know that you and I will never see the same way about my betrayal to you. I will always think it right and you will always this it was wrong. So maybe, you could just return and we could forget all about it..." Ganondorf bent down and sat beside her on the bed, "I'm afraid I can't do that now" he replied, "This is my opportunity to have power again...Just trust me on this, I will never attack you or the gerudos." Nabooru nodded, "Okay...I would love to believe you, but there is one little problem, I want my scouts back". Ganondorf smiled, "Then go get them, I'm not stopping you". Nabooru stood and walked towards the door as Ganondorf called out one last thing, "Naby, just so I know we are on the same ground, I still hate you". Nabooru smiled mischievously, "I'm sure you do, but just so you know as well, I really wouldn't mind if you came back to the fortress." With that, she swept out of the room and back into the hallway.

Ganondorf sank back on to the side of the bed and ran his hands through his long red hair. He heard some guards walk by again and he sat up to softly shake his head. They were by far too loud, but he figured they would figure that out if they encountered Nabooru sneaking around out there. He looked to the exit of his room as the name lingered on his mind. The worst part was he knew that even though she felt guilty now, pretty soon she would go back to her previous way of thinking that she was right and he was wrong. And in a way, he knew she was right.

Ganondorf stood from the bed once more and walked to the exit of his room. He left the silk bed sheets and expensive rugs for the dirt halls. He acted as though he was paying no attention to the guards and instead kept walking with a straight face. Ganondorf made his way to the back of the fortress and didn't even stop to give a password to any of the guards guarding certain hallways. Pulling open one last door, Ganondorf made it into the part of the fortress that had been there before the gates were built, a large cavern in the rocks the fortress was build around. He made his way to a long narrow hallway and looked across a row of bars. This was the fortress prison, it already contained various groups of scouts and spies that had tried to sneak into the fortress or snuck around the area.

In a quiet cage near the back, Ganondorf looked in to see the gerudo scouts all unconscious and lying about the cell. He put his hand on one of the bars and watched them. None of them looked as though they would be waking up within the hour, he knew that once they did though, they would probably be sprung out. He almost hoped for them to wake up at that moment, it sure would have been more interesting around the fort if there were gerudos running about. Ganondorf left the cell to walk back through the cave and into the fortress.

Nabooru slipped along the halls with no problem. It had become second nature to her to sneak and she didn't even think about it as she jumped from a beam to the ground and walked right off behind the guards. Realizing for the first time a sense of loss, Nabooru looked around and realized one hopeless thing about the fortress: It was more complex than it had first seemed. She slipped behind another guard and sighed, rounding another corner. The prison was obviously well hidden and she figured that meant it would be well guarded as well. Sighing again, she jumped on to another of the wooden support beams and looked around hoping to see a guard that would lead her there.

Nabooru jumped from the beam after a few minutes and was suddenly shocked to hear a guard approaching from behind her. She whirled around and was met by a large hand grabbing her wrist. Slamming into the figure behind her, she took on no look of surprise as she realized immediately that it was Ganondorf. He looked down at her with a cold gaze, "I've just heard that some guards at the very front gate were knocked unconscious earlier. They believe the culprit could somehow be walking unnoticed around the fortress". Nabooru grinned, "Well, I do believe that is what she is doing right now". Ganondorf's gaze didn't soften this time though, "You know" he said, "I would turn you in, but then all of the scouts would mysteriously disappear from their cells then wouldn't they". Nabooru watched him with an unwavering gaze, "Ganondorf" she said surprised, "Does that mean you don't know what to do with me?" "No, I know what to do, I think I should point out to you that your scouts are that way. Have a nice day". He walked off at a fast pace and didn't even turn to see what Nabooru did. He already knew though, it was doubtful that the gerudo scouts would still be there in the morning.

Much later that night, Nabooru and Avilar, a purple ranked guard, quietly traded uniforms. Nabooru slipped into the cell wearing the lower purple uniforms and watched as Avilar and three other guards slipped out. Nabooru once again reviewed with Avilar the quickest way out of the building before Avilar nodded to her general one last time. Nabooru and one of the three guards remaining in the cell with her hoisted the fallen cell bars and pulled them back up to their standing position so it looked as though the missing scouts would have just disappeared. Quickly slumping herself against the wall, Nabooru dressed as a guard and her fellow scout went back to positions to make them look unconscious. All she had to do now was wait.

Ganondorf was woken up very early the next morning by a guard demanding his presence. The guards all seemed a little quite confused as they hauled him into the fort's only large common room and shoved him into a chair by Rouge and Cochon. Four gerudo scouts were led out and the leading guard stood in front of the three leaders looking very flustered. "The gerudos were in the Minor Cavern hall number 6 at the very back cell" he said still red faced and very flushed of words, "I don't know how, but three of them got out of there". Ganondorf was resting his eyes upon each gerudo scout as the guard continued. "We have searched everywhere but it appears that they aren't in the cavern. We checked the hallways, but its possible that those gerudo scouts could be anywhere. They could be in our bedrooms waiting to kills us, keeping some guard under knife point at a high security room..." Ganondorf's eyes found what he was looking for in the fourth gerudo standing behind the other three. She stood tall and proud in the face of her enemies like the others, and she wore the purple gerudo guards attire, but Ganondorf could have sworn that something was not right about her. As the other gerudos glared at the guard speaking, she appeared to be looking at something else. Ganondorf couldn't tell what of course as she was wearing a purple veil, but whatever it was, it worried him.

Cochon cut the leading guard off, "We get your point Rubeus" he said, "That will be enough. Right now we do not need possible bigger problems that could come out of this situation, we need solutions. Question the guards, one of them will have an explanation for this".

The purple garbed gerudos were forced into a straight line as Cochon spoke with power, "Which of you will tell me where your friends our". None of the guards answered and Ganondorf propped up his elbow as he eyed Cochon with interest. "Okay" Cochon said sounding a little more frustrated, "Which of you would like to explain why your still here". The guards shrugged, but no one offered a reply. The two lined up on the right looked at each other and whispered something that Cochon seemed angry at not being able to hear.

"WHICH of you stupid thieves would like to explain why your lovely rescuer took off with only three of you?" Cochon now said louder, "What is wrong with you? Do any of you know how to speak?" The guard on the far left raised her hand timidly. Ganondorf watched her again as Cochon looked to her with a tone of sarcasm in his voice. "Yeees?" he said glaring at her. She shook her head no and didn't even utter a sound. Cochon's eyes looked about to bulge as Ganondorf suppressed a laugh, Nabooru had obviously trained these girls well as they all knew to keep their mouths shut. He smiled with interest as Rouge poked Cochon, "Lemme try" she said dully but vigorously.

"Okay ladies" Rouge said sitting up straighter, "I understand you must be some sort of scum to get left behind when your little hero could have just woken you and whisked you away, but I still want to know, what did you do to be such scum bags?" The gerudo second to left said shyly, "We didn't do anything". "Oh yea" Rouge spat, "Well I'm sure your lying to save face in front of your king. You little scum balls are here for a reason and I can only guess why" "Did you insult your little hero, did you make your little general mad at you? I'm sure you had to do something pretty bad to actually have to serve as a scout after all right?" The gerudo on the far right spoke up, "Actually, its an honor to be a scout" she said as the other gerudo guards murmured their agreement. Rouge sneered, "Why are you little purple freaks still here? Do you think your hero is going to show up late and magically whisk you away? That must be it, I've never seen a reasonable head on a gerudo guard". Ganondorf frowned from where he sat, he considered slapping her but she quickly spun and whispered a "sorry" before turning back to the guards.

"So" she said still sneering, "When's your little hero going to show up?" The gerudo on the far left shrugged, "Maybe she hasn't left yet, maybe she is waiting for you to leave this room before she strikes". Rouge's eyes widened before she smiled, "Your lying through your teeth" she said triumphantly. The gerudo second to the right shrugged, "Actually no...she isn't really lying..." Ganondorf's eyes finally swept to that guard immediately. He took on an immediate understanding. He had thought that particular guard was Avilar, a well trusted gerudo guard who was always getting picked to lead Scout parties. Obviously she was someone much higher up. He looked back and forth from the fuming Cochon to the scared Rouge. "Watch the gerudo second to right very carefully" he said picking Rouge to talk to. "If she gets away, I can guarantee you'll lose half the fort". Rouge quickly nodded her head as she grabbed a guard near her and whispered frantically in his ear. Ganondorf could see the rest of the guards chatter than start looking very cautiously at the guard second to the right.

Cochon's face was bright red as he squeezed the arms of his chairs. He did not seem amused at all with the gerudos display. Removing his clenched fists to cross them across his chest, he barked out in a much too loud voice, "Take them back to their cell, I'm tired of this rubbish". The guard farthest to the left bowed her head as she said in a mocking tone, "Glad we could be of service".

The guards at their sides swarmed in to force the gerudos in a line but not one of them got close enough to actually touch them. As the gerudos were filed out, Ganondorf watched the guard who had been standing second to the right look up at him and wink.

That night, Cochon and Rouge met together with Ganondorf in a small office. "Well" Cochon said while puffing his chest out importantly, "It looks like this day could have been more productive". Rouge frowned, "Don't say that if you don't plan on helping. Neither of you two have done anything to help the effort." She walked around a wooden desk in the center of the room and pointed her finger at Cochon with an accusing air. "Cochon" she said frowning, "What have your men done to help the war effort? Absolutely nothing, and anything they do, they lose." She turned to Ganondorf with the same accusing air. "And you" she said still angry, "What have you done? You sit around all day and mope. When the gerudos got in you did nothing to stop them. If you don't start taking some responsibility there is absolutely no way we will be able to win". Cochon looked to Ganondorf as well, "My men at least try to do something. I haven't seen you do anything! Why when the gerudos were being questioned did you just sit there? You know more about them than we do." Ganondorf shrugged, "My girls are good aren't they" he said thoughtfully, "That single handful of scouts managed to elude your entire fortress. Makes me feel like a proud king". Rouge looked angry enough to slap him, "WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?" she asked very angrily, "YOU ARE WITH US NOW! YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE THE GREAT KING OF EVIL". Cochon grabbed both of Rouge's arms, "Its okay, stop shouting" he said looking at Ganondorf with an expression of mistrust.

"Ganondorf" Cochon started still seeming a bit flustered, "the gerudos are our enemies, while you are here you can't trust them so much". Ganondorf frowned, "Gerudos are your enemies? What do I look like a big goron?" Cochon stomped the ground, "No! I understand you are younger, but that doesn't mean you have to act like it!" Smiling Ganondorf replied casually, "Normally I don't." Rouge butted in on the fuming Cochon, "Ganondorf we brought you here to help". Cochon growled cutting her off, "I don't see why though, I haven't seen any great qualities of his, in fact I haven't even seen why he would be a king of anything in the first place! Ganondorf, to me you are immature, lazy, you let in trespassers, you don't do anything to help the effort, you seem to have the senses of a Goron! And in fact to me that is exactly what you look like, a big goron!"

Rouge smiled politely at Cochon. "Cochon" she said a little agitated, "Ganondorf has the best military sense for miles. He single handedly took over Hyrule and kept it strictly under his control for seven years. Every gerudo battle he has led has been won, they only thing he ever lost was the fight with Link. We revived Ganondorf to help us win, for there seems no match to his strength and size". She finished with great gusto as Cochon looked to Ganondorf in disbelief. "I don't believe he would win anything, let alone a fight". Rouge put her hands on her hips, "If we put him in a fight, he would win!" Cochon frowned, "I bet if you let him lay one foot on that battle ground, we would lose the battle so fast your head would hurt". Rouge growled as she pushed herself nearer to Cochon's face, "Oh yea?" she said angrily. Ganondorf clenched his hand in a fist at his sides as Cochon replied defiantly, "Yea". Ganondorf retracted his arm and shot out his fist punching Cochon square in the face and knocking him to the floor.

Cochon looked up in surprise as Ganondorf walked over and placed a heavy boot on top of Cochon's chest pinning him to the floor. "Never insult me again" he said with an evil sneer across his face, "Or I will rip you to pieces". Rouge smiled in an impressed way as Cochon lay struggling on the floor. Ganondorf turned to her but did not remove his boot from Cochon's chest. "You want me to fight?" he asked in his still angry voice, "I'll fight". Her eyes gave a sparkle of some sort of delight as she unrolled an old parchment on the wooden desk in the center of the room. "We have a secret attack planned on the hidden Hylainian base there" she said indicating towards a small dot on the map, "You may lead the troops. All we have had here so far, has been defeat, don't let us suffer another".

Ganondorf nodded finally lifting his boot from Cochon. Struggling to his feet, Cochon huffed a little before dusting off his backside. "I will be in my chambers" he said trying to puff out his chest, "I plan on finding a better military attack plan since Rouge is so unhappy with our original". Cochon left the room as Rouge grabbed a large heavy book sitting on the desk and threw it at him. He ducked his head just in time before shooting a look of pure hatred and leaving the room. Rouge frowned, "If you mess up" she said shoving a finger towards Ganondorf, "You will be treated just like him". Ganondorf shrugged, "Like I care," he growled as he casually walked out of the room.

Swinging down from a beam right outside the open door, a small gerudo guard dressed in the purple colors of a scout scampered down the opposite end of the hallway.


	17. Ganondorf's little secret

Guess its time for an update. I don't own Zelda and ummmm, whatever else I need to say to clear your mind of me copywriting.

Thats all!

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The guards standing outside the gerudo's stone cell stared at them with cold eyes. Seeing how easily they had escaped, they had realized these girls needed extra security. The small purple guard easily jumped behind them and watched with satisfaction as none of them noticed. She put her foot to the ground and twisted it making a small scratching noise in the rock. The guards turned at the noise and stared around behind themselves in befuddlement. Seeing nothing but stone wall they turned around again to see the purple guard leaning against the bars.

"Hey was she there before?" one of the guards asked stupidly. The other guard shook his head, "Don't think so". He reached out his finger and mentally counted them up before shrugging, "Well she must have just moved I guess, I mean there is still only four of them in there right?" The other guards nodded. The first guard spoke up again, "Guys", he said shaking his head, "I think these girls are beginning to get to our heads, I'm just going back to patrolling the main hallway". He turned to leave and was very surprised to see the other guards following him, "Isn't anyone going to stay?" he asked as they all shook their heads. Obviously gerudos had reputations of doing pretty scary things to guards.

Nabooru unfolded her arms from where she leaned against the bars. "Those other two are so incompetent" she said in reference to Cochon and Rouge as the other gerudos got up from their seats on the floor to talk to her. "Did you see how worked up they got over us earlier?" she shook her head as she looked to her scouts. "Well miss Nabooru" one of the scouts replied softly bowing her head, "obviously we are superior in every way to this group". Nabooru smiled at the very polite gerudo and nodded in agreement, "All I got from their little meeting is a small attack plan on some random fort, oh and that Ganondorf doesn't like the old guy".

The other gerudos snickered as they nodded their heads in agreement to what she had said. "I wish he would just come back..." one of the other scouts said softly with a sigh. Nabooru shrugged as another gerudo spoke up. "You used to say so for yourself Nabooru, Ganondorf can make his own decisions but most of them are dumb". Another scout slapped her arm lightly, "Don't speak ill of him!" she said in a reprimanding way, "we are no longer in rebellion against him". Nabooru sighed as she tried not to remember ever hating him. "I'm going out again" she said with a sort of shrug, "This cell is making me feel claustrophobic". The other gerudos waved as she unhinged a bar and slipped out.

Ganondorf lay on his silk bed as he stared at the ceiling in a pondering sort of way. He had already taken off his armor and felt just about ready to fall asleep when something moved in the doorway. Ganondorf sat up immediately and stared towards the entrance of his room. Everything remained silent for a moment as he let his eyes soar across the room from side to side before he shrugged it off and started to relax again.

All of a sudden something pounced upon him and pushed him back on to the bed. He looked up to see the grinning face of Nabooru. "Hello handsome" she said in a goofy sort of way, "Miss me?" He smiled while nodding his head before he wrapped his two muscular arms around her back, "Of course I did" he replied pulling her closer.

Nabooru continued to grin as she lay down on top of him and propped her elbows on his chest. "So" she started swinging her legs behind her, "how has my dear king been all day?" Ganondorf shrugged looking into her smiling face, "Pretty good" he said as she watched him with much interest. "Oh really" Nabooru replied closing her eyes for a moment, "You sure seemed worked up when that Cochon guy insulted you though". Ganondorf raised an eyebrow, "How would you know?" he said suspiciously. "I've got the eyes and ears of a fox!" she replied as he continued to watch her with that same look. Nabooru just grinned wider before stopping her legs from swinging as she looked down at him with an expression of interest. Ganondorf let his eyes wander across her body before he looked to her with an amused expression, "Why are you wearing purple Naby?" he said watching her grin again. "Again" she replied, "I'm just like a sneaky fox".

Ganondorf sighed, "You shouldn't stay here" he said loosening the grip he had around her waist, "Why haven't you left with the remainder of your scouts yet?" Nabooru's grin disappeared, "What? You don't want me to stay?" He frowned, "No, you should go. Its not your place to be here". Nabooru sighed as she let her head slip from her hands to rest her chin on his chest. "Its not your place either" she replied watching him continue to stare at her. Ganondorf lifted a hand to stroke her head, "Maybe we should leave" he said watching her close her eyes in a peaceful sort of way.

Nabooru opened her eyes again as she laid her arms down and gently began making little circles with one of her hands. "Why do you stay?" she asked, "Don't you miss your old life?" Ganondorf shrugged as he continued to let his hand sift through her hair, "this is not anything like my old life" he said as she looked to him with interest. "My old life had power, and trust, and..." Nabooru pulled her head up to look at him, "And what?" she asked innocently. He grinned closing his eyes, "Women". Nabooru smiled softly as she brought her head down and thumped it against his chest, of course that was something Ganondorf missed...

Nabooru rolled from his chest to his side and snuggled into him. He placed an arm around her and smiled as she murmured, "This bed is really comfy". Ganondorf turned his head to watch her close her eyes against him, "Its so hard to hate you when you look like that". Nabooru opened her eyes and mentally felt like she had just been given a large slap. She looked up at him as he pulled her closer. "You are very easy to fall for" Ganondorf said closing his eyes. Nabooru considered pulling away for a moment before she simply smiled and closed her eyes as well. It wasn't long before she unknowingly fell asleep.

Ganondorf woke up early the next morning and looked down at his side to see Nabooru still asleep. He stroked her face and considered waking her for a moment before deciding against the idea. He unwound his arm from her side and slowly stood up from the edge of the silk bed. He walked over to a small but elegantly decorated table where his various pieces of armor had been laid out.

Nabooru opened her eyes and looked out from her position on the bed to Ganondorf's standing frame. Her eyes widened as she jumped up from the bed and nearly toppled over on to the floor. Ganondorf quickly turned and frowned at her as he straightened the leather chest plate he had just slipped on. "Calm Yourself Nabooru" he said gruffly as he softly shook his head. She watched him with wide eyes. "Ganondorf" she whispered hugging her knees on the edge of the bed, "How could you let me just do that? What is going to happen if the guards discover I'm missing?" Ganondorf finished slipping on his wrist armor before going to sit by her on the bed. He started pulling on one of his boots as he shrugged, "The worst that happens is that there is a search party sent for you. Either that or you just will have to break out your scouts again". Nabooru put her head down, "Either way" she whispered, "It means I might have to leave".

Ganondorf pulled on his other boot before he turned to her in confusion, "What's so bad about that?" he asked as she continued to remain curled up. Nabooru didn't speak as Ganondorf watched her with hawk eyes. "Answer me" he said, "You wouldn't be planning anything would you?" Nabooru lifted her head from her knees and looked up to his face, his eyes relayed mistrust. "Ganondorf..." she started as she looked back to the ground. "What?" Ganondorf asked looked at her with a straight expression. "I...I" she said before standing immediately up, "I have to go". She turned to leave but was stopped as Ganondorf grabbed her arm and forced her to face him. "You've betrayed me once" he said watching her wiggle uncomfortably, "Don't do it again". Nabooru looked to his face one last time trying to find some hint of the person he had been the night before. She reached her head in and kissed him on the cheek before turning once again and leaving from the room. Ganondorf watched her walk away as he put his hand to his cheek; he hated how sneaky she was being.

The fortress had a tense air that day. The guards seemed jittery and finally had aroused themselves to stay alert on the job. Rouge was seen pacing about a small hallway leading to her office as she stopped only to give orders to her guards. Cochon was nowhere to be seen. Being split up from the other two leaders gave Ganondorf the chance to finally meet what he had to work with. The troops were highly organized, but he could tell by looking at them that his gerudos were better trained. They emphasized getting a job done quickly, and as Ganondorf paced around the outside of the fortress, he found himself dealing with a couple of soldiers who couldn't fight well even while they were just practicing.

Ganondorf walked back into the fortress and growled at Rouge in complaint. "Why are they such incapable fighters?" he asked her in annoyance as she stared at him like he was crazy. "These men are highly capable" she replied in surprise, "Why would you say such a thing?" Ganondorf frowned, "Look at them" he said shaking his head, "There stance is so easily knocked off, they move so dully..." Rouge continued to stare at him in surprise, "Ganondorf, I'll have you know that these men are some of the best fighters out there, they have been proven to be even better fighters than the Hylainians". Ganondorf frowned, "If they are better fighters than why do they keep losing?" he slammed a fist down on Rouge's desk in complaint. Rouge shook her head, "Ganondorf!" she said frowning, "All of the battles have simply been badly timed and such, if Hyrule's Link hadn't been there, we would have won". Ganondorf looked very frustrated as he left the room. He grumbled to himself all the way down the long main hallway of the fortress.

He absorbed himself so much in his own thought that he did not even notice when he crashed into Cochon. Cochon looked up in surprise, "Why look, its Ganondorf" he said with a mocking smile. "And look" Ganondorf replied, "It's the man with the weak troops". Cochon sneered, "What are you talking about?" he said in annoyance, "My men are some of the best fighters in the world". Ganondorf replied with a smirk of annoyance, "I would love to see the 'best fighters in the world' just try to take on the rest of Hyrule". Cochon stepped in front of Ganondorf to keep him from moving, "What do you mean by the rest of Hyrule, the _gerudo_?" His had bent into some sort of smirking smile, but it immediately faltered when he saw Ganondorf flash him a look of pure hatred. He was about to respond when the two were interrupted by a noise in the hallway.

Three guards patrolling the hallway stopped at the two leaders as one of them spoke up while gulping. "I'm sorry sir that we aren't up to your standards, but I promise I will do my best to get there" he said watching Ganondorf's eyes flash over him. Ganondorf turned from the guard to Cochon, "These men better shape up" he said as he turned on his heels and left.

It wasn't long before the fort began to get edgier around Ganondorf. He would frown as he walked by a guard and immediately force him to shape up. In less than a day, he had riled up the entire fort to the point of when he walked by, they stood straight and tall. If he walked by while they practiced, they would immediately get on harsher guard. And when he talked to anyone, they answered to him as "Sir".

Rouge herself seemed impressed at Ganondorf's transformation that he managed in one afternoon. She even went as far as to seek out Cochon and pull him aside. "Look at that" she said indicating towards Ganondorf, "In one day, he can make our troops better fighters". "I see" Cochon replied, "But can he fight". Neither of them had to answer that question.

That night, Ganondorf sat on his bed once again alone in his chambers. He started to take off his wrist armor as a voice from the outside hallway called, "Sir!" Ganondorf looked up in irritation, "What is it" he demanded gruffly as the guard walked in. "Just reporting back to you on the fighters you yelled at earlier, they wanted me to tell you they have stopped their other fighting stance". Ganondorf watched the guard stutter as he waved him to stop, "Fine, fine" he replied while sighing, "Tell them good job". The guard nodded excitedly and ran off.

Ganondorf went back to taking off his wrist armor when a second call came from the hallway, "Sir?" He looked up in frustration and yelled, "What?" The second guard hurried into the room with wide eyes. "Just a reminder" he replied, "From Cochon. About tomorrow". Ganondorf looked at him with cold eyes, "What is it already?" he asked harshly. The guard nodded, "Well" he replied, "Just reminding you that the battle you are allowed to participate in is tomorrow and that you should probably wake up early". Ganondorf looked at him with dull eyes, "Thank you for the reminder" he replied coolly as the guard scampered off.

Ganondorf finally had pulled the wrist armor onto his hand when a call came from the hall, "Ganondorf". Ganondorf threw down his fist in annoyance, "What now!?!" he yelled extremely loudly as he grabbed at the wrist armor that had gotten stuck on his fist. A red head appeared around the doorway as Nabooru slipped into the room. Immediately Ganondorf sighed and lost all of the former commanding air. She sauntered to his bedside and leaned over where he was sitting. "Need help with that?" she asked slowly lifting his hand and easily slipping off the little piece of armor. Ganondorf sat there watching her as his eyes locked with hers, he didn't say a word.

"Rough day?" Nabooru asked soothingly as she watched Ganondorf look down to

his wrist. "Not at all" he replied in a smooth voice. Nabooru took a seat beside him on the bed and pulled off his other wrist plate as he watched her with soft eyes. "Why haven't you left yet?" he asked as she stopped to look up at his face. "Why haven't you?" she replied not letting her eyes wander.

Ganondorf continued to stare at her as she held his hand gently in both of hers and looked down at it in some train of thought. "You know Nabooru" Ganondorf whispered as she continued to look down, "I should probably turn you in. Tell Rouge and the pig that I have a little secret running around in the fortress". Nabooru looked back up to his face with a smile. "I know you wouldn't" she replied, "Otherwise you would have alerted the whole fortress already." Ganondorf let his eyes encircle her whole face as he asked her softly, "Why do you come visit me at night?" Nabooru shrugged, "I don't know, do you not like seeing me here?" she replied. Seeing him not respond, she continued on. "Maybe I just feel it's my duty to...after all, I seem to be the reason you left". Ganondorf shook his head, "Don't feel that way" he murmured as he watched her sit there now beginning to slouch. Nabooru turned her head one last time, "Ganondorf" she said quietly, "I know you hate me, and I know the last thing you want is to trust me. But I wish, things would just go back to the ways they were before..."

Ganondorf sighed, "You know that won't happen Nabooru" he said refusing the urge to pull her closer towards him, "We were miserable back then as well, things should never return". Nabooru watched him before standing to leave, "If you want to stay that badly" she replied, "Just say so."

Ganondorf frowned as she stood and started to leave the room. Ganondorf stood up as well and walked behind her to the doorway. She looked up at him from the entrance of the hallway, "Just for the record" she said watching him look at her intently, "I hate you". Ganondorf suffered a light smile, "Well" he replied, "If it's just for the record, I hate you as well". Nabooru gave him one long last wistful look as she turned to walk down the hallway. "One last thing" Ganondorf whispered as he pulled her close to his chest, he reached down and kissed her. Nabooru let him hold her there for a few moments before she pulled away. She walked down the hallway and listened as he walked back into his room. She hated the feeling of dread that came as she turned to leave the hallway completely, even if she managed to drag Ganondorf out of the fort, he would probably go back to being mad at her.

Nabooru threw herself past the guards and easily slipped back into the gerudo's cage. No one questioned her sullen mood as she screwed the bars back on the cell. She sank to the cold floor and crossed her arms.

Across the fort Ganondorf returned to his spot on the side of the bed. He ran one ungloved hand through his hair as he sat quietly. From the hallway outside of his door, Rouge folded her arms. She looked at the single light coming from Ganondorf's room and tried to shake her head of what she had just seen. Was Ganondorf having an affair with the enemy?

Early the next morning, Ganondorf received a rude awakening as a guard burst into his room yelling, "Sir, Rouge wants you outside, now!" Ganondorf uncomfortably stood and started pulling on his armor. The guard's eyes widened as he refused to leave the room and started, "Sir, not meaning to intrude but by now I think she meant NOW". Ganondorf gave the guard a cross expression, "She can wait" he said grumpily.

Fifteen minutes later Ganondorf sauntered into the hallway and was not surprised to see the guards anxiously directing him towards the big room of the fort. He casually walked in and stood by the already seated Cochon as Rouge turned from the center of the room. "Good you're here" she said before she turned back to a group of guards she was yelling at.

Ganondorf watched guards scurry about the big room before he finally leaned down to Cochon, "What's going on?" he whispered as the older leader refused to make eye contact from his chair. Cochon lifted his nose and haughtily replied, "the gerudos have gone missing, again". Rouge turned around glaring at Ganondorf as she stormed up in front of them.

"Okay" she said in a rushed tone, "where are they?" Ganondorf smiled, "I have no idea" Rouge started to yell, "What do you mean you don't know where they are? I just saw you..." Cochon butted in, "Rouge, calm yourself" he said lowering his nose and finally starting to sound like the wise leader Ganondorf had first thought him to be. Rouge didn't appear to want to be calmed as she raised both of her fists and looked about ready to yell again. Ganondorf placed both of his hands on her shoulders and roughly turned her making her directly face him.

He lowered his head to her height and started to speak in a soft low voice. "Calm yourself Rouge, today is supposed to be a battling day and starting it off yelling at your guards will do no help. We are going to walk out of this room and go off to fight, your guards will deal with the escapees". He lifted his head back to his normal height and barked out orders to the guards. "Find them" he said, "Make sure to watch any exit no matter how small it might be".

Ganondorf then grabbed Rouge's shoulders again and led her out of the room. He let go of her in the hallway and started to walk back to the main entrance as Rouge guiltily followed.

Outside, the morning air actually felt pretty nice. Nabooru smiled as she slipped into the trees and found Avilar faithfully waiting. She grabbed and hugged her before signaling to her scouts to start back into the forest. The trip to the fort had been more successful than Nabooru had expected. She now left with all of her scouts, and a magnificent copy of all of the fort's battle plans. Plus a chart that decoded the message system the fort had been using, The only thing Nabooru hadn't gotten, had been Ganondorf.


	18. Seperated Ways

This chapter took me forever to write! I hope you enjoy it, because I got stuck like five times while writing it! In fact I was even thinking of only posting 3 word pages! But there are 8, so have fun!

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An hour later, Ganondorf found himself trudging across the borderland forests as he made his way to the edge of Hyrule. He sat on top of a tall dark horse, it was strong but nothing compared to the stallion he had back at his fortress. Rouge was on a smaller horse at his side. She remained quiet for the majority of the trip and it didn't speak to Ganondorf until they reached the edges of the small hideout they were attacking.

Ganondorf dismounted and walked over to look through a space in the branches of a tall tree. A group of tents had been set up in a small man-cleared area below Ganondorf's look out. Counting to himself, Ganondorf figured they had about 25 men hidden below and it pained him to realize his group only had about 13. Figuring Hylainians were never to good at fighting, he nodded at the fighters to surround the area. Ganondorf watched as the soldiers took a traditional circular positioning around the area. Rouge slipped around to Ganondorf's side and watched. "There are only 13 of us" she whispered as Ganondorf continued to look down, "you better be as good as they say you are". Ganondorf smiled, "Don't worry, I am".

The commander of the small hideout sat on his little tan pony as he took his duties as look out. He looked around at the forests and saw nothing out of the ordinary. Settling back into his horse, he stretched his arms and watched as an old man carrying a pot walked out of his tent. The two nodded to each other before the commander went back to his looking. Shifting on his horse again, the commander did a double take as something blue moved behind a tree. He stared at the tree as the old man on the ground stood and dropped his pot. The commander watched as the old man walked slowly away from the camp looking around suspiciously. He crept up the tree and peered around.

All of a sudden the soldier wearing blue jumped out from behind the tree and stabbed the old man. The commander yanked back on his reins in shock and was about to yell when something grabbed his mouth and pulled him off of the rearing pony. The fighters slipped into the tents and soon the grounds became yelling place. Ganondorf crept behind all of his fighters and lifted a long gerudo sword he had fought with many times before. Without letting his face be seen, Ganondorf walked up behind the men that jumped from the tents and stabbed them. He swiftly moved through the crowds and any men that seemed to be attacking his fighters he silenced. Within a matter of minutes, the fight was over. Rouge looked to Ganondorf from across the tents and pointed to where the horses had been left. It was an obvious victory.

Trotting back to camp somewhere, Ganondorf pulled in front of the fighters. Away from everyone else, Rouge finally approached him to talk. She pulled her horse along side his and cleared her throat as she tried to speak. "Ganondorf" she said clearly, "I saw you with your gerudo girl last night". Ganondorf turned his head to watch as Rouge immediately caught his interest. "What about it", he replied as if it meant nothing to him. Rouge frowned, "We can't have you doing that with the enemy. How do you know that girl is not going to come back and seduce you to get our battle plans?" Ganondorf raised an eyebrow, "I would trust that girl with my life" he replied.

Rouge trying not to seem flustered frowned at him, "But how can you…" Ganondorf cut her off, "What is it Rouge?" he asked as she tried to say something else, "Are you jealous that I still adore my fellow gerudos?" Rouge's eyes flared, "I don't care, just normally kissing the enemy is considered to be traitorous". Ganondorf smiled playfully, "You are jealous aren't you Rouge?" Rouge frowned pulling her horse away. As Rouge trotted off Ganondorf smiled, Rouge would be an easy target to seduce out of telling anyone.

Standing in the throne room of the gerudo fortress, Avilar proudly presented the decoding chart while a scout to her right held the plans. Nabooru watched the rest of the scouts file in as Isle individually congratulated them. Standing in front of the throne with Renova and Semalie to her right and left, Nabooru watched each scout move on to bow on one knee in front of her. Avilar and the rest of the scouts rose to leave the room with large smiles across their faces.

Isle walked to Nabooru's side as they too started to walk off into one of the

hallways. "Avilar was very happy with her promotion" Isle started as Nabooru cheerfully nodded. "I'm sure she will do very well as a red" she replied. Isle and Nabooru turned a corner to make their way past a noisy dining hall.

"Reminds me of when I got promoted from purple" Isle said dreamily, "Except I didn't receive the promotion in front of the elite council or Ganondorf's second in command". Nabooru shrugged, "I don't think it really matters who you receive the promotion in front of". Isle lightly punched her shoulder, "That's because you have received it from Ganondorf himself almost every single time". Nabooru smiled as they turned another corner, "What can I say? He used to favor me". Isle rolled her eyes, "And he doesn't now?" Nabooru stopped in front of a large entrance to her destination as she replied, "I don't know about him now. I can't tell if he is really mad at me or not." Isle grinned as they entered the room, "He probably is, normally he tortures and beheads his traitors before tossing them into the river of sand. But look, you are still here and it doesn't look like you're missing a head". Nabooru didn't find this fact at all funny as she took a seat at a circular table inside of the room.

Isle sat down beside her while Ruby and Taint shuffled some documents from their already seated positions. Renova entered the room with Semalie and took a seat by Nabooru. Semalie sat by Taint, which was no surprise being the two were an almost inseparable team. Cere and Lyiamere entered together and took up the last two remaining seats.

Now seated with her seven council members, Nabooru nodded to Ruby as she tossed the Assassins battle plans on the table. All of the gerudos leaned from their seats to get a closer look as Ruby placed a finger on a large dot on the map. "Here" she said jabbing at the papers, "They plan on taking one of our scout bases next week". Nabooru frowned, "That is a very random place to attack" she replied, "Since they obviously have Ganondorf now helping them, I'm guessing they will probably attack here." She pointed to an unmarked area which all of the council knew to be a more strategic base to attack.

"If I know Ganondorf" Nabooru said looking over the map, "He is going to change many of these plans. If they follow this they are going to lose within the week". Lyiamere nodded, "The Assassins look like they want to just attack everything straight on, something that can work for other countries". Nabooru smiled, "But not for Hyrule, they seem to neglect to realize we aren't working with the Hylainians, and most of the thousands of Hylainians fighting are actually inside the borders."

Lyiamere nodded to her general, "I'm hoping you do plan on fighting Nabooru," she said watching Nabooru's eyes roam through the other plans, "We could just as easily cut the bridge to keep them away, but if they control the outside border towns, they may be able to cut down our trade routes. The desert merchant towns aren't as good about trading quality items".

Nabooru shrugged, "We can fight" she replied. "They planned on doing an actual battle here" she said now pointing her finger to a spot on the map, "We will just hit them with 2 thousand of our own and plan on surprising them". Lyiamere seemed settled with that decision as she scooted back in her chair and relaxed a little. Ruby continued to go over the plans as Nabooru leaned to privately talk to Isle.

About an hour later, the council's meeting ended and everyone slowly began to leave the room. Nabooru left smiling and engaged in idle talk with Renova as she moved on to her next activity. Her day had a very tight schedule as the fortress had fallen into a few messes when both of the leaders were away. Nabooru found herself negotiating prices for old swords with a picky salesman, drawing out plans for a new gerudo coliseum, and lecturing a few hundred young gerudo girls about how important it was to be honorable on raids. By the time night fell, she was just about ready to retire to her chambers to read old letters when a group of fighters returning from a raid ran in with important information.

The group of fighters had stumbled across what looked to be an old caravan. After stopping it for further inquiry and robbery, they discovered assassin messengers hidden on the insides of the wagon. The girls had managed to bring back two letters written in what looked to be a cryptic language along with a nice rack of polished shields.

Nabooru left Isle to reward the girls as she walked away to decode the letters in silence. Sitting in a small plain bedroom, Nabooru pulled out her decoding card and found the letters all the more confusing. After they were translated into gerudo, the letters still appeared to not make up any familiar words. Nabooru left the rest of the job to Ruby for the night as she gave up and went to bed.

The next morning, Nabooru woke up early and walked outside to catch some of the chilly morning desert air. She whistled for her horse and after mounting, trotted off to do some riding in the desert. By the time she returned, it was almost noon and everyone seemed to be looking for her.

Nabooru dismounted at the gate as a messenger ran up to her side and handed her a large red envelope. Nabooru thanked the messenger and entered the fortress to find a messenger telling her that Ruby wanted to see her immediately in the library. Nabooru sent the messenger telling Ruby that she would be there in about five minutes. As she turned to walk down to the library, two of the commanders of the current gerudo armies grabbed both of her arms and dragged her outside to help Renova explain where the troops were being sent. As Nabooru walked outside with them, another messenger ran up and deposited a large stack of documents in her arms. While turning to go outside another messenger ran from the throne room with news that a troublesome group of girls needed to be quieted in the throne room. By the time Nabooru had reached the exit again, she was holding a large stack of papers, was being followed by three messengers, and had two very anxious gerudos standing in front of her. It was the start of a long day.

Three soldiers tossed bottles of unknown liquor at a decaying stump as they looked at the rubble before them. It had been another victory for the assassins, a surprise attack and the soldiers were quite keen on celebrating. One hiccupped as he slipped a long silver sword out of his sheath and playfully slashed at the air. The other two soldiers giggled in their drunken stupor as the first soldier fell to the side from a gust of wind. He landed on his butt and started cackling out loud. Behind the soldiers humps of what used to be great houses lay in burning heaps. A few screams were still heard and a small girl ran across what was left of the street towards the soldiers.

The drunk soldiers turned to watch her and laughed pointing out their black gloved fingers. They laughed like children as the young girl tripped over a stone and screamed softly. She stood again with deep red blood running down her knee, and began to run again to nowhere. The drunken soldiers stopped laughing to take a remaining swig of their liquor as the girl encountered a sober soldier. He lifted her up with a gloved hand and held his sword in the other hand. The screams stopped.

Gerald Mansworth was not known to be a kind man. He had a sharp hooked nose, weathered skin, and a deep scar that ran down his entire left cheek. He watched over his fighters with an eye for blood. It was what made him one of the cruelest fighters in the army. And now as he held the limp body of a seven year old girl his senses were heightened. He looked up from his sword to see three soldiers making fools of themselves on top of the hill above the village.

He dropped his cargo and briskly walked up to the top of the hill, two of the soldiers snapped to a swaying attention as the third was still to drunk and on his butt to even respond. Gerald looked with a sneer at the two standing soldiers before he dropped his head and stared into the eyes of the drunk on the ground. One glove hand shot out and the drunk soldier stopped giggling and swaying to look into the eyes of a very angry captain.

"What do you do when a commanding officer approaches you boy?!?" The soldier hiccupped, "Saaaaalluuuuut" he said as he started to fall to the left. Gerald snarled, "What did you say BOY?" The soldier tried to mumble something as Gerald unleashed the hard steel toe of his muddy brown boot. It smashed into the soldier's nose and a sickening snapping noise was heard. Gerald now raised up the soldier by the throat, "Now when you see a commanding officer you salute boy. Did you get that? YOU SALUTE." He finished with a definitive smirk before he dropped the drunken soldier.

"Now for you two" he said walking towards the standing soldiers, "What do you think you are doing standing here getting drunk in the middle of a battle?" The soldiers mumbled something as Gerald whipped out his right hand and backhanded both of them. "I have never seen a pair of worse soldiers, we are here to win, not to get drunk, not to play around, and definitely not to stand here loosing all sense of discipline in the middle of a BATTLE". Gerald spat out his last words before he pointed his finger to the ground and called out "50". He didn't even bother to check on if the soldiers managed to get in the right position on the ground. There were still people left in the village and three drunks weren't going to spoil his fun.

On the other side of the middle sized village, the leaders of the soldiers gathered to receive news from the approaching messenger. They crowded around the small man on the little brown pony and waited to hear his message. Gerald Mansworth walked through the crowded area to directly face the messenger. Seeing they were all there the messenger started, "Good news. Ganondorf the acclaimed king of evil has proven to be more than what others have claimed him to be. Your troops are being relocated to his command. We hope to see more victories, seeing as the best troops should go only with the best leader".

The commanders of these troops clapped with the news, Gerald Mansworth smiled a fairly genuine smile as he questioned the Messenger, "No more Cochon correct? We will be permanently left under the command of this 'king of evil'?" The Messenger nodded as the soldiers burst into applause. "And when will we go to him?". The Messenger replied boastingly, "Have your troops ready to leave by morning tomorrow, Rouge plans on stopping the attacks on these petty villages and moving on to the actual forts and holders of Hyrule".

The soldiers nodded in an evil glee of agreement as Gerald raised his arm to stop the soldiers from clapping and laughing. "I want every soldier cleaned and refreshed by Sun up, we leave tomorrow morning. Any group dragging behind will be punished. Got it?" The commanders all clicked their heels together with a "yes sir" before the Messenger was sent on his way and the commanders were left to rile up their troops. This was Rouge's strongest army, her pride and joy, and yet they had never before fought under a great leader. They did have one faith though, that Ganondorf would be the great leader to lead them to their much-desired victory.

Link trudged along an old dusty road loosely gripping Epona's bridle. He

grimaced as his big toe hit a stump and tore a little into his old leather boot. Someone was needed to go and fetch the two old army captains from the village, and seeing as he had been in the fields before he was the first to be volunteered. Link reached the steps of Karioko and dropped Epona to start climbing. It didn't seem fair that Jason, who had the same amount of experience as him, was left at the palace to do whatever he pleased. Link reached the top step and walked up to the gates sulking. "I'm here for Mr. Ruberth and Mr. Clyde" Link muttered as the guards happily escorted him to the two captain's ridiculously large and well furnished quarters. Link walked up to the front door and was not surprised to see a plump butler look down his nose at him and rudely inquire what Link happened to be doing there. The day for Link was getting a lot worse…

Jason jumped into the plains and tried his hardest to keep from leaping into a run. He slipped a dark brown cloak off of his head and yanked the Mare he had managed to get away with alongside of him. He had waited for a long time for this moment. Being a palace guest meant constant attention and the moment Zelda turned her back to him Link would appear only to watch him even closer. Finally having the day by himself, he had raced from the palace and into the plains in hopes of not being caught. Jason had plans today, and they involved visiting a very pretty red head that he just couldn't stop thinking about.

Standing in front of the skinny bridge, Mika unhappily stared into the distance. The duty of bridge guarding was either far too boring or far too exciting. It was never just simply turning a random intruder away, which would have been a lot more fun than what she was experiencing. Mika leaned against the post and looked down to the rushing river waters. She could see four of her friends giggling and diving into a quieter cove to the side of the river. Her eyes flamed, why was she stuck up here anyways? Mika looked back across the bridge, "No one is coming today". She stared at her friends than to a steep trail that quickly led down to where they were. "Well, at least no one better come."

Jason reached the entrance to the cliffs that lined the gerudo valley and started to gallop in. He led his horse to the last bridge that lay before the long gerudo bridge and dismounted from the horse. He slipped across and slowly made his was towards the bridge. There was no gerudo guarding the other side.

He placed a foot on to the bridge and stared across, nothing moved in the distance. Jason slowly moved across, he expected something to jump out at him or attack him. He smiled as he reached the end of the bridge and dramatically lifted a foot to reach the other side. His eyes felt the joy too as he looked across one last time and placed his foot down. It was then that he saw the five gerudos below the bridge. He tightened in fear as he almost wanted to shout, had any of them seen him?

He looked down one last time and was quite shocked, not just one, but four gerudos were looking at him with harsh eyes. He choked as he noticed the fifth running up the cliff path and yelling. Jason mentally slapped himself before running into the valley. He jumped behind a pillar right before watching five guards gallop past him towards the bridge. He came around from behind that and jogged forward and had to press himself against a wall to nearly avoid another 10 coming from another direction.

Jason slipped along the wall and tried to run down an alley before he saw about five gerudo guards coming from the opposite end of the alley. He grabbed a door and pulled himself inside before they looked up and then found himself ducking under the window as they ran past. He ran through the small house he had intruded upon and ran into a young gerudo who had her head stuck in a book. She smashed into him and screamed before reaching towards her belt and grabbing a small gerudo dagger. Jason didn't wait that long as he ran past her and charged up a set of stairs. He had to duck under the next flight to avoid a very angry looking gerudo mother charging the other direction before he was given the space to run up the next flight of stairs and on to the roofs.

Jason ran forward at full speed just in time to be spotted by two gerudo guards who both pointed at him and yelled commands out to no one Jason could see. He reached the end of the roof and took a flying leap only to be spotted by another guard. Jason ran down the length of that roof and took an even longer leap to land on the next roof. He rolled behind a crate and lay there panting. This was a lot harder than he had thought, the security had been tightened quite a bit since his last visit.

Jason lay there for a second before he pulled himself to a crouch and peaked over the crate. He scanned his current roof seeing no guards and was about to relax when he heard a voice say, "Hello again Jason, and what are you doing back here again?" Jason shakily turned his head in fear and almost died with relief when he saw the smiling face behind him. "Nabooru…" he breathed in relief.

She smiled as she bent down and roughly grasped his upper arm. She yanked him to a stand and pointed in the direction of an interest to the building. "You can go first" she grinned watching him wearily trudge forward.

Jason was led to a round adobe room. Nabooru walked in behind him and pulled two satin chairs around a small table. Jason stared towards the entrance into the room. "Its funny how only a few of the rooms in here actually have doors" he commented as he walked over to where Nabooru was standing. She cocked an eyebrow, "Sit" she replied. He shrugged as he sat down and waited for her to do so as well.

Nabooru folded her arms on the table and looked across at him with an expression unreadable to Jason. "Now that we aren't outside behind crate barrels" she started watching him with hawk eyes, "Lets have a little talk on what exactly you are doing in my fortress". Jason shuttered a little as Nabooru's eyes glimmered. "Well, for one I never got the chance to properly thank you".

Nabooru sat back a little, "For what?" "Well, for helping me get out and…not sure actually", Jason replied smiling as he watched Nabooru. Her eyebrow went up again as she stared at him with a distant expression, "You came all this way to say that?" Jason smiled, "No, but if I had I would have had a great reason to do it". Nabooru sighed, "You are very frustrating…"

Nabooru was cut off as a loud noise was heard in the hallway and Renova suddenly burst into the room. "Nabooru" she said in a restrained voice, "I think you need to come right now". Nabooru looked up, "Ok just one…" "No Nabooru, NOW."

She stood from the table and started trotting towards Renova. Seeing he had no other options, Jason followed. The two gerudos walked at a very brisk pace from the small room to their meeting hall with Jason close behind. Renova was roughly whispering into Nabooru's ear with a scared expression on her face. Although Renova appeared nearly in tears, Nabooru seemed to keep her calm quite easily. They reached two large wooden doors when Nabooru spun around and looked at Jason with a stern expression on her face.

"You need to stay here" she said as two gerudos dressed in gold and purple carrying large spears walked towards him. "They" she said indicating towards the guards, "Will escort you to the bridge. I assume you brought a horse?" He nodded. "Good, you will need to ride extremely fast if you want to avoid…" She turned on her heels and walked into the room as Renova started to once again run towards her. The wooden doors shut and Jason was left with the guards. He shivered as each put a large grip on one of his arms. Jason was led through the fortress and out to the bridge.

Mika stood at the entrance with her arms folded. She glared at him as he was led up to her. The guards released him as Mika stepped out to block the bridge. Jason turned and saw the guards behind him still glaring. With a large gulp he walked forward and tried to walk past Mika's side. She reached out her arm and blocked him again, "If you ever try to cross this bridge again while I'm on guard, you won't be walking back alive" she whispered into his ear as she released her arm and watched him scurry across the bridge.

Nabooru walked out of the conference room in a rush. She stormed down the hallway and out to the entrance to the haunted wastelands. She didn't even wait for the gate to fully open before she crossed through and vanished into the desert. The gerudo lifting the gate frowned, something was bothering Nabooru, and it was bothering her in a time where any moment could bring war. This was not good.


End file.
